Two Words
by Captain Dodge
Summary: In Tents Debate AU. A scheme that Team Aloha Beach hatches pays off, and the Louds end up going to Aloha Beach for the weekend. Unfortunately, Lucy ends up getting more than she bargained for... (Cover by Lentex)
1. Chapter 1: Surf's Up

**Author's Note: Hey-ho! Well, I wasn't planning on unveiling this fic until later, either, but the timing just feels right. And hey, maybe I'll try writing two fics at once, challenge myself!**

 **Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? Small changes can have big consequences…**

 **I'm Captain Dodge – thank you, and I hope you had a great Shark Week!**

(…)

The annual Loud family vacation was just around the corner – but this year promised to be different. Sick of him and his sisters suffering bears, mosquitoes, and crazy hill people at Scratchy Bottom Campgrounds, Lincoln Loud instead persuaded his parents to move the vacation to either Aloha Beach or the Dairyland Amusement Park.

There was only one problem – they didn't specify which one.

The Loud siblings put the matter to a vote, and the result was a tie – five sisters for Dairyland, five for Aloha Beach. Lincoln was the tiebreaker, and, finding that he could not decide at the moment, he asked to defer his decision to the end of the day. Determined to get him on their side, Team Aloha Beach and Team Dairyland showered Lincoln with favors all day long – and like a dairy cow, he milked it for all it was worth.

Finally, however, the day came to an end. Fed up with pampering Lincoln, his sisters surrounded him in his room as he was getting ready for bed.

"All right, Lincoln," Lynn said, "your time's up. What's it gonna be?"

Lincoln wasn't about to give up his new-found privileges that easily. "I know I said I'd decide by the end of the day, but I'm still torn." He leaned back, lounging. "Can I have just one more day?"

Lola was just about ready to snap. "Why, you _lousy LITTLE –!"_

Just as she lunged at Lincoln, Lori stopped her, clamping both hands over her mouth. "Uh, not… a problem… _hahaha…_ _We… understand,"_ she said through gritted teeth.

None of the other sisters wanted to fall out of Lincoln's good graces, either, so they all retired to their rooms, grumbling. Lincoln smiled, knowing that he had bought himself another day of rest and relaxation, until he felt you, the reader, looking at him disapprovingly.

"Can you blame me?" he asked you defensively. "No matter what I decide, five of them are still gonna be mad at me." It was a poor excuse and you both knew it, so Lincoln dropped the act. "But this day has been _amazing."_ He laid down. "So, I figure, why not take advantage of it a little longer?"

But what Lincoln didn't know was that Team Aloha Beach had gathered in Lori and Leni's room (as both were on the same team) to plan their next move.

" _Ugh,"_ Lori sighed, "what are we going to do, you guys? We need to try harder to show him why the beach is better."

Lucy got an idea. "Or…" she said (making everyone jump a little), "…we sweeten the deal."

The other members of Team Aloha Beach looked at her quizzically. _"Huh?"_

"I mean, we make him an offer in exchange for his vote – one so good, he _can't_ pass it up."

Lola leaned forward. _"Ooh…_ I'm listening…"

Lucy hopped off of Leni's bed. "Be right back."

Lucy slipped out of Lori and Leni's room, into the hallway, then into the room she shared with Lynn. Making sure her roommate wasn't looking, she reached under the bed and pulled out a locked box. Using a key that she wore around her neck, Lucy unlocked it, made _absolutely_ sure Lynn wasn't watching, then took a deep breath and opened it.

Inside were her _Princess Pony_ comics. Even Lucy needed a break from the darkness every now and then – but not right now. What she needed was on the left-most side of the box. Lucy pulled it out and examined it, making sure it was still fresh. She had been saving this for a special occasion, when she needed something from Lincoln, and she figured that now was as good a time as any.

As Crowley was her witness… she _would_ see a shark attack this summer.

Lucy closed and locked the box, making _extra_ absolutely sure that Lynn hadn't seen her, then stashed it back under her bed and returned to her group.

She held up her intended bribe. "Behold."

The other four gathered around, _ooh_ ing and _ahh_ ing.

"Oh, ho, ho, Lucy, you are _good,"_ Lori said. She held the prize, grinning deviously. "Girls… I do believe we've found our _'ace'_ in the hole…"

(…)

" _Gotta pee, gotta pee, gotta pee!"_

The next morning, Lincoln danced out of his room on his tiptoes. "Note to self: no more cocoa before bed!" he said as he rushed for the bathroom.

He knocked on the bathroom door, and after determining it to be unoccupied, he hopped inside to relieve himself. Lori, Leni, Lucy, Lola, and Lily all poked their heads out of their respective bedrooms and nodded at each other, putting their plan into action.

When Lincoln exited the bathroom, he found himself surrounded by flower bands, coconut bikinis, and grass skirts. _"Good moooorrrrrning, Lincoln!"_ they all said.

" _Gah!"_ Lincoln yelped, startled. "Oh, uh, hey guys. Um, I didn't blow the conk…"

"We _know_ you didn't, Linky," Lola said, "but we were just wondering: Have you made your decision yet?"

Lincoln stretched. "No, not yet. But if I need anything to help me think about it, I'll be sure to let you guys know."

The girls feigned disappointment. "Oh… that's too bad…" Lori said. She reached behind her back.

"…I guess you won't be wanting _this,_ then!"

Lori pulled out a mint condition _Ace Savvy_ comic. As Lincoln looked at it, his jaw dropped to the floor. That wasn't just any _Ace Savvy_ comic they had.

Lincoln shakily raised a finger to point. "Is… Is that… the 1988 _Ace Savvy_ annual?"

" _Oho,_ you're familiar with this issue?" Lola said.

"Co-authored by legendary graphic novel writer Art Moore, detailing the backstory and motivations of recurring enemy and occasional love interest of Ace Savvy, the Trump Card! And… And that's the _variant cover!_ And…! _And…!"_ Lincoln crawled forwards on his knees, practically salivating. "And is it _mint condition?_ Guys, _where_ did you get that?!"

Lucy actually got it while trading in _Princess Pony_ comics, but she didn't want the others to know that. "We have our ways…" she said.

Lincoln stood up and tried his best to look nonchalant. _"Ahem…_ Well, uh, y-you know, guys, uh, um… I-I'm sure you couldn't _possibly_ be interested in anything related to dumb kids' comics, right? If-If it's all the same to you, uh…" He looked at them bashfully. "Could I… _have it…?"_

"It's all yours!" Leni said.

" _Oh, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU –"_

Before Lincoln could grab the comic, Lori held it up out of his reach. _"If_ you vote for Aloha Beach."

" _Ohhh…"_ Lincoln groaned, "I should have known there would be a catch…"

"That's the deal, Lincoln. Take it or leave it."

Lincoln began to deliberate. On the one hand, he _really_ wanted the comic. On the other hand, he still didn't want to disappoint his other five sisters. Once again, he found that he could not make a decision. "Well… um… I-I don't know…"

"Gosh," Leni said, "I guess you don't want this picture book as badly as we thought you did. Oh, well."

Lincoln knew he had to stall for more time. "H-Hey, _no!_ I never said _that!"_

"You didn't have to." Lori turned to Lucy. "Well, Lucy, this _does_ belong to you. What do _you_ want to do with it?"

"Hm. Don't know." Lucy's mouth gave the faintest hint of a smirk as she decided to raise the stakes. "Maybe I'll _burn it."_

Lincoln was aghast. _"What?!_ Wh-Wh-Why would you do something like that?!"

Lucy shrugged. "I like burning stuff."

"No, Lucy, _wait!_ Y-You can't just _burn_ that thing! Y-Y-You don't understand how _valuable_ it is!"

"What do I care? It's just a _dumb kids' comic,_ like you said…"

" _Oooh…!"_ Lincoln hated it when they used his own words against him.

"It's your choice, Lincoln," Lori said. "Either you vote for Aloha Beach, and we give you the comic… or you don't, and we give it to Lucy. What's it gonna be?"

Lincoln started sweating profusely, chewing on his fingernails. "L-L- _Look,_ Lucy, why-why don't I _show_ you how valuable it is? Give it to me, and I'll sell it online, and we'll split the earnings 50-50!"

Lola held up one finger. "Going _once…"_

" _Ah!_ O-Okay, 70-30! 70 for you, 30 for me! Just _please,_ Lucy, _PLEASE_ don't destroy it!"

Lola held up another finger. "Going _twice…!"_

" _Ahhhh!_ Please, guys, _please,_ this isn't the sort of decision to be made lightly! Just give me more time!"

Lori slowly began to hand the comic to Lucy. Lincoln _really_ began to panic as the comic got closer and closer to Lucy's destructive hand. He knew that there was nothing he could do to change their minds – except one thing.

" _Ah… Gah… Buh…_ _ **AAAAAHHHHHHH!"**_ Lincoln prostrated himself before his sisters. _"OKAY, OKAY, OKAY! I surrender! You win!"_ He looked up at them pleadingly. "Aloha Beach it is. Now, _please…!"_

Lori smirked. _"Awww,_ Lincoln… Now, was that so hard?" She handed the comic to him, and as he cradled it, she went to the head of the stairs.

" _Mom! Dad! Guys!"_ she called. _"It's settled – we're going to Aloha Beach!"_

" _Okay, hon!"_ Mrs. Loud responded.

" _Alright, kids, start packing – we leave on Thursday!"_ Mr. Loud shouted.

As Team Aloha Beach celebrated their victory, Team Dairyland came storming up the stairs, howling in protest. Lori faced them head-on.

"Now, now, girls," Lori said smugly, "don't be like that." She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. "Lincoln made his choice."

Most of Team Dairyland turned their wrath to Lincoln, but Lori, Leni, Lola, and Lily defended him from them. Lana, meanwhile, looked at Lucy, dumbfounded.

"How…" she said, "…how did you manage to get him on _your_ side?"

Lucy folded her arms victoriously. "Two words: _Trump Card."_

(…)

The ride to Aloha Beach may not have been the worst thing that happened on the Loud family's vacation that summer, but it was definitely not pleasant. Lincoln thought it was bad enough that Team Dairyland shunned him until Thursday, but then he had the misfortune of being stuck with three of them around him in Vanzilla. Lynn played an especially brutal game of "Auto Attack" with him on one side; on the other side, Luna was practically screaming in his ear the whole time as she jammed to the music from her headphones (almost surely on purpose); and Lana kept kicking the back of his seat. Lincoln took it all in stride – he understood why they were upset with him, and he knew he had to make it up to them before the trip was over.

Even so, there was only so much a boy could take – especially since even some of his allies on Team Aloha Beach were aggravating the entire ride. Lily wouldn't stop crying, no matter how hard Lola tried consoling her, and Lori threw up on Leni (who was too dazed to notice), stinking up the whole van even after the mess was cleaned up.

"…Are we there yet?" Lincoln eventually asked.

"Almost, kiddo," Mr. Loud answered. "And don't forget, I'm suffering just as much as you are!"

"Hey, Dad," Luan said, "how did you manage to afford to go to Aloha Beach, anyways?"

Mrs. Loud looked at her husband. "Honey, you didn't tell them?"

"Oh, _dang it,_ I forgot!" Mr. Loud looked in the rearview mirror. "Kids, your mother won the lottery!"

Everyone's interest was immediately piqued. _"Really?!"_

Mrs. Loud nodded. "Ninety-six thousand dollars! And after paying the bills, buying health insurance for you kids, and having a nice night out together, we had _just_ enough left over for a weekend at _Aloha Beach!"_

Team Aloha Beach cheered, while Team Dairyland brooded. "Well, I still would have preferred to engage in casual mathematics by calculating the lengths and velocities of the various mechanical apparatuses at Dairyland," Lisa said.

"And I wanted to ride the Milk Shaker!" Lana added. "But now I'll never get to be hit in the face with my own barf…"

"Yeah. Thanks a lot, _Lincoln,"_ Lynn said.

Lori turned around to face her. _"Hey!_ Don't blame _him!_ If you want to blame someone, blame _us!_ Or better yet, blame _yourselves_ for not coming up with a plan like ours!"

"Well excuuuuuse _me,_ princess," Luan said, "but not all of us are ruthless _'beaches'_ like you! _Hahahahaha!_ Get it? But seriously, screw you."

Lori and Luan started fighting, but Mrs. Loud shouted them down. "Hey, hey, _hey! Enough!_ Girls, this is a _family vacation_ – so we are going to act like a _family!"_

Lori shrugged at her mother. "But Mom, that's what we're doing."

And with that, the entire van broke out in bedlam, with Lori and Luan resuming their argument, Lynn, Lana, Lola, and Lisa joining in (with Lana punctuating her arguments with kicks to the back of Lincoln's seat), Mrs. Loud vainly trying to end the argument, Luna turning up the volume on both her music player and herself, and Lily continuing to cry. And Lincoln, caught in the middle of it all, was as miserable as could be.

" _Are we there yet?!"_

(…)

One more hour passed, and it was the longest hour of Lincoln's life. At long last, however, they arrived. It was already evening when the Louds arrived, so they decided to wait until the next day to go swimming. In the meantime, the family checked into their hotel, had a fancy dinner, and settled in. The Louds slept in two separate rooms – Mr. and Mrs. Loud slept with Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, and Lily in one room, while Lori supervised Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa in the other. There wasn't much space to go around, but the Louds were used to such things.

In the kiddie room, Lincoln and the others unpacked the last of their things, grabbed fresh pajamas, and prepared to go to bed. Lucy was the last one to go into the bathroom, and a few minutes after she heard the shower turn off, Lori declared lights-out. When the others protested how early it was, Lori countered, "We've got a big day ahead of us, guys. We've got to be ready to enjoy as much of it was we can."

Grumbling, the younger Louds prepared to go to sleep. Just as she was about to turn the lights out, Lori realized that Lucy was still in the bathroom. She got up and knocked on the door.

"Lucy!" she called. "Come on, lights out!"

There was no response. Looking at the door, Lori noticed that there was no light coming out from underneath.

"Lucy?"

Lori opened the door… and found Lucy sitting on the floor, in the middle of a pentagram surrounded by candles.

Lucy hissed. _"Close the door!_ You're letting the light in!"

But Lori was not having any of this. Barging into the bathroom, she flicked the light switch on, drawing Lucy's ire. "Lucy," Lori said, _"what_ are you doing?!"

"If you _must_ know…" Lucy grumbled, "I was trying to perform a ritual that would ensure that a shark would show up tomorrow and attack someone. But now, I have to start all over again. _Thanks."_

Lori sighed, shaking her head. "Lucy, _look._ We are on the shore of Lake Michigan. There are _no sharks_ in Lake Michigan."

Lucy balled her hands into fists and gritted her teeth. "Oh… _now_ you tell me…" She pointed at her elder sister. "That was the _whole reason_ I wanted to come here, Lori!"

"I know. And if I let you know the truth, I never would have kept your vote, okay?"

"You _lied to me?"_

"Well, technically I _misled_ you, but same basic principle, yeah."

" _Why?!"_

"Because I want a tan."

" _You –!"_ Lucy looked about ready to blow her top, but then she suddenly regained her composure. _"…Sigh._ This is so not worth it. Fine, whatever. Work on your stupid tan. But I'm _not_ giving up. I don't care who it is – I _will_ see someone get attacked by a shark this weekend."

And with that, Lucy stormed out of the bathroom. Lori rolled her eyes.

"Good luck," she said as she began to clean up Lucy's mess.

(…)

That night, Lincoln had a strange dream. He was still lying in bed, but in an unfamiliar location. His family surrounded him.

And everywhere he looked… he saw their crying faces.

He wanted to ask them what was wrong, but his voice wouldn't come out. In fact, his mouth wouldn't even move.

Lincoln's eyes darted back and forth. He couldn't move at _all._ What was happening?

He saw Lucy reach out from the corner of his eye, and he looked to see her hold his hand.

" _Lincoln…"_ she said, _"I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…"_

"'Sorry' for _what?"_ Lincoln wanted to ask, but his mouth still would not move. Suddenly, his family dissolved into shadow, and he saw a bright light…

Lincoln's head lifted up off his pillow. _"…Lucy?"_ he blurted out.

Lucy was sitting on the loveseat, writing poetry. "What?"

Lincoln looked around. He was back in the hotel room, and the sun was shining through the glass door leading to the balcony. He looked at the clock. It was 8 a.m.

"What is it?" Lucy repeated.

Realization dawned on Lincoln. _Oh… just a dream…_ he thought. It seemed so real, though. Then again, lots of dreams did. He sat up. "Oh, nothing, Lucy, just… woke up from a weird dream, is all…"

"What about?"

"Um…" Lincoln struggled to recollect his dream. "Well… I was lying in bed, and you and everyone else were all around me, crying about… something. Maybe you were crying for me? I don't know, I couldn't talk or move…"

Lucy tapped her pen against her chin thoughtfully, then started scribbling in her poetry book. Apparently, Lincoln's dream had provided her with inspiration. When she was done, she admired her handiwork, then smiled at Lincoln.

"…Thanks, Lincoln," she said.

Lincoln shrugged. "…Anytime."

Just then, Lori came in through the doorway connecting the grown-up room to the kiddie room (the two rooms that the Louds had reserved were right next to each other). Seeing Lincoln, she said, "Good, you're up. Hurry up and get dressed – we're grabbing breakfast."

Lincoln got up and stretched. _"Ah…_ Okey dokey."

Lincoln threw on a clean orange polo, a pair of jeans, and put on his white sneakers, then went to get breakfast with the whole family. As the Louds ate, they planned the day ahead of them. It was decided that the morning would be dedicated solely to the beach, with a break for lunch, followed by an exploration of what else the hotel and surrounding area had to offer. At the same time, Lincoln quietly made a plan of his own – a plan to make sure that Team Dairyland ended up enjoying this vacation just as much as Team Aloha Beach.

After finishing breakfast, the Louds waited the requisite hour, then began to get ready to go to the beach. As his younger sisters (and Lori) changed into their bathing suits in the bathroom, Lincoln dug through his clothes, looking for his swimming trunks. When he didn't find them, he stood up, rushed to the door separating his room from his other elder sisters', and threw it open.

"Guys, I – _AHHH!"_

" _LINCOLN, WE'RE CHANGING!"_

" _SORRY! SORRY!"_

Lincoln backed away, blushing and shielding his eyes, and managed to find the door and close it. Panting, he leaned against the door and desperately tried to remove what he had just seen from his memory.

After ten minutes, he knocked hesitantly. "…Are you decent?"

"…Come in, Lincoln," the girls said testily.

Lincoln opened the door, finding to his relief that his sisters and mother were now changed into their swimsuits. "Guys," he said, "I can't find my swimming trunks! I'm sure I packed them, I'm _sure_ of it!"

"Oh – you _did!"_ Leni chirped. "But I threw them out."

"What?! _Why?!"_

"So that you would wear…" Leni ran and grabbed something from her bag, then presented it proudly. _"…this!"_

She handed it to Lincoln, who eyed it skeptically. "What's _this?"_

"It's a swimsuit, silly! I made it especially for you! Can't you tell by the color?"

Lincoln examined the orange swimsuit, feeling its scaly texture. As he turned it over in his hands, it caught the light, and the trunks glittered intensely.

Lincoln held the trunks at arm's length, squinting. _"Ah –!_ Why is it so… _shiny?"_

"It's a bold new look for the beach! I call it… _'Sequined Swimwear'."_

"Ohhh…" Luan said, "I _'sequin'_ what you did there! _Hahahahaha!_ Oh, wait – no, I don't."

"You see, people are attracted to things that are shiny, right? So, I thought, if I covered a swimsuit entirely in shiny sequins, well, then _everyone_ will have to look at it!"

"Yeah, and it'll be the last thing they ever see before it _blinds them!"_ Lynn said.

"How can it blind them?" Leni asked. "It's got no sharp, pointy ends…"

Lincoln sighed. "Leni, look, I appreciate the gesture, _really_ I do, but… I don't think I can wear this…"

Leni looked confused. "Huh? But… But you _have_ to, Lincoln! Otherwise, you'd be going around all nakey!"

"Not if I wear Dad's spare pair of trunks!" Lincoln looked at Mrs. Loud beseechingly. "Right, Mom?"

" _Hmm…"_ Mrs. Loud thought about it, and decided that she didn't want to be staring at those tacky trunks all weekend long. "…All right, Lincoln. Come on; it'll be a bit big for you, but we can make adjustments –"

" _Dang it!"_

Mr. Loud's frustrated cry rang out from the bathroom. He came out holding up his swim trunks with one hand.

"Honey, what happened?" Mrs. Loud asked.

"The elastic band broke! These trunks are useless now!" He crossed over to his bag. "Luckily, I packed a spare…"

Lincoln slumped forward. Now, his only other options were skinny-dipping or sitting on the hot summer beach in his shirt and jeans – and neither prospect was very appealing.

Mr. Loud grabbed his spare trunks, then saw Lincoln holding the sequined trunks. "…What is _that?"_ he asked.

Lincoln stared at the trunks glumly. "…My swimsuit."

(…)

Lucy panted as she paddled away from the beach. Her body was weak, scrawny, and pale from such a long time in the shadows – and although she preferred it that way, she had a goal that she intended to see through. She looked around, making sure that she was in the midst of the crowd. Satisfied by the shouting and splashing of the swimmers around her, she braced herself for what she was about to do.

She knew people did it all the time in pools – she, herself, was guilty of it from time to time. Even so, doing it surrounded by people was still embarrassing. She never knew if someone would feel an unexpected warm spot and come to the obvious conclusion.

But… this was for her dream, and what had to be, had to be.

Lucy closed her eyes… and released her bladder.

As Lucy relieved herself in the water, she looked around every few seconds to make sure no-one had caught on. As soon as she was done, she started swimming back to shore, praying that a shark would be attracted by the smell, as she had read in a book.

Because if not… she may very well have ruined someone's day at the beach.

" _Sigh._ This had better work…"

Meanwhile, Lincoln was returning from the bar, trying not to spill the (non-alcoholic) beverages in his hands as he navigated the crowded beach, his bare feet hopping back and forth on the burning sand.

" _Ah! Oh! Hot, hot, hot, hot, HOT! Ow! Ooh! Careful! Sorry! Excuse me! Coming through! OUCH! So hot! So hot! Ow, ow, ow –! Phew…"_

Safe on the soothing coolness of the beach towel, Lincoln handed the beverages to his mother, just as Lucy returned and retreated back into the shade. "There you go, Mom and Dad!" Lincoln said.

"Thank you, Lincoln!" Mrs. Loud said as she handed one drink to her husband. "Such a sweet young boy…" Resting in their sunloungers, Mr. and Mrs. Loud toasted to what promised to be a relaxing weekend.

As he took in the relief provided by the beach towel a little longer, he heard some older boys behind him snickering – undoubtedly at him and his swimsuit. _Ignore it,_ Lincoln told himself. _Right now, there are sisters that need your help._

As Lana was sitting just nearby, he decided to talk to her first. Lincoln sat down next to her. "Hey, Lana," he said.

Lana folded her arms and pouted. _"Hmph."_

"Whatcha doin'?"

"… _Nothing."_

Lincoln followed Lana's sullen gaze, finding – to his pleasant surprise – that it rested on Lola. "…Looks like Lola's trying to build a sandcastle."

"…Yeah. So what?"

Lincoln looked at her. "I think she needs your help."

Lana glared at Lincoln. _"Why should I?"_

"Because you can only build a magnificent sandcastle if you work _together._ Lola's got the vision; you've got the skills. If you communicate, you can help each other out…"

Lana looked at Lincoln, and as she studied his tone and the look he was giving her, she realized that he wanted her to talk things out with her twin sister. In response, Lana hugged her thighs, rested her chin on her knees, and intensified her grumpy expression. Despite her inaction, however, Lincoln refused to leave. She could still feel his eyes on her, and she couldn't ignore them. She tried to block him out by focusing on Lola's floundering. She looked pathetic…

… _Too_ pathetic. Lana needed to intervene before she embarrassed herself any further. Sighing, she stood up and walked over to Lola.

"…What are you doing?" she said.

"I'm _trying_ to make a tower, but the sand won't stay up!" Lola said.

Lana shook her head. "You need _wet_ sand, remember? Come on."

Lana led Lola to the surf, where the waves lapped at the shore. Taking the pail from Lola, she gouged some wet sand out of the beach, compacted it, then planted it upside down, leaving a thick column of sand standing as she pulled the pail away.

"…What now, your highness?"

" _Hmm…_ This tower needs some battlements…"

Lana silently began packing wet sand into the corresponding mold. Lola could feel the frustration emanating from her, and she knew she had to say something about it. "Lana…"

Lana planted the 'battlements' on top of the 'tower'. "There. _Now_ what?"

"Lana, what's the big deal?"

Lana started shuddering. Then, she threw the mold on the ground. _"Why_ did you want to go to the _beach?_ Why didn't you want to go to _Dairyland?_ That place has got _everything –_ pulse-pounding rollercoasters, big, uh… spinny… swing machines… and all the free snacks you can eat!"

Lola deadpanned at Lana. "Lana, the snacks there are _not_ free."

"They are if you know where to look! You wouldn't _believe_ how much perfectly good food people just _throw away!"_ Lana shook her head. "Look, my point is, Dairyland is _fun,_ and _exciting!_ Why wouldn't you want to go there?"

Lola shrugged. "Well, we get plenty of fun and excitement at home, don't we? Maybe I thought a change of pace would be nice – something _soothing,_ and _relaxing…"_

"And _boring!_ I mean, honestly, what is there to do here?"

"Not much – and that's the _point!_ Why can't you just… _let yourself go? Unwind?"_

"Well, maybe… _Rrgh…_ Maybe I don't _want_ to unwind! Maybe I wanted to enjoy the feeling of my heart racing, my blood pumping! Maybe I wanted _you_ to enjoy that, too! Maybe… _Maybe…"_ Lana hung her head, fighting back tears. "Maybe I just wanted you to have fun, doing something we could _both_ enjoy…"

For a few moments, Lana stayed there, sniffling quietly. Then, she felt Lola's gentle touch rest on her shoulder.

"Oh, Lana…" Lola gulped. "…That's what _I_ wanted, too…"

Lana's eyes shot open, and she lifted her gaze to meet Lola's. In that moment, the twins gained a clearer understanding of each other than ever before… and all it took was a single conversation.

Lola smiled at her sister. "Come on, Lana, give this vacation a chance. Maybe you'll see that some peace and quiet isn't so bad. And hey – if that's still not your style… then there are still ways to make the beach exciting!"

Lana perked up. "Like what?"

Just then, a big wave crashed into the shore, sweeping past Lola and Lana and destroying their meager tower. Before the water could retreat, Lola snatched a handful, adopting an impish grin.

"Like _this!"_

Lola splashed Lana with the water, then got up and ran into the water. Laughing, Lana pursued her, and soon the twins were engaged in a playful splash fight. Lincoln watched the entire scene unfold, and although he didn't hear most of the conversation, he saw the twins having fun together, and that was enough.

He stood up. His work here was done – it was time to move on to the next sister.

Lincoln walked down the beach a ways and found Lisa crouching in the sand and picking up a small shell, which she examined.

"Hmm… _Dreissena polymorpha…_ knowing the invasiveness of this species, there must be a colony nearby… perhaps on the pier?" She dropped the shell into a small metal box that she was carrying with her.

"Hey, Lisa," Lincoln said. "You're… collecting seashells?"

Lisa stood up and turned to face him. "This is not for sentimental purposes, elder brother. I intend to run tests on the seashells."

"Tests?" Lincoln scratched his head. "What kind of tests?"

"Tests to determine what types of chemicals would be best suited towards the removal of invasive species in the waterways while doing the least amount of damage to the environment."

"Oh, well, that's… noble of you…"

"But of course. Advancement of knowledge combined with altruism is the ultimate reconciliation of humanity and science."

"Well, it's nice to see that you're doing something that's productive _and_ enjoyable for you on this trip – even though it's not where you wanted to go."

Lisa closed the box and picked it up. "One must find enjoyment in all things, Lincoln, if we are to find any meaning in continuing our existence."

Lincoln blinked. "Wow. That's… quite profound, Lisa."

Lisa adjusted her glasses. "Who did you think you were talking to?" With that, she turned and walked away, looking for more shells to collect.

Lincoln watched her go, then shrugged. Clearly, Lisa did not need his help. He went to look for another sister.

He found Luan a short while later, looking peeved. "Uh… hey, Luan," he said. "What's the matter?"

" _Rrgh…"_ Luan growled. "Forget sunblock – I'm going to need _pervertblock!"_

Lincoln tilted his head. "Huh?"

Luan jerked her head backwards slightly. "You see that guy in the red and blue trunks?"

Lincoln looked over her shoulder to see a middle-aged man wearing red and blue trunks who appeared to be staring at Luan. "Yeah?"

"He's been eyeing me for _fifteen minutes,_ now! Doesn't he realize that I'm _fourteen?"_

"Are you _sure?"_

"Yes, I'm _sure!_ Wherever I go, he follows! _Creep…"_

"Well, why don't you try telling him to stop?"

"I don't want to talk to him…"

Lincoln got an idea. "I never said anything about _talking_ to him. I meant, try telling him to stop – in the only way _you_ can."

That intrigued Luan. _"Hmm…"_ Smiling, she turned around. _"Hey, mister!"_

Luan's call turned a few other heads in the man's direction. The man looked around. "Huh…?"

Luan turned back around and spanked her butt at him. _"Enjoying the view?"_

Everyone watching became disgusted with the man. His embarrassed stuttering only made him look guiltier, in Lincoln's eyes at least. "W- _Wha –?_ N- _No,_ I…! I… uh…"

"Enjoy it while it lasts – 'cause you won't enjoy it as much from _behind bars! Hahahahaha!"_

Some of the beachgoers started laughing at the man's expense. Just when it appeared that things couldn't get any worse for him… his wife showed up.

" _Harry!"_ the man's wife said. "Where have you been? What are you _doing?"_

As Harry attempted to make excuses to his wife, who clearly wasn't buying it, Luan and Lincoln walked off, laughing. _"Hahahahaha!_ Oh _man_ , did you see his face? _Priceless!"_ Luan laughed again.

Lincoln laughed along with her. "You see, Luan? There are people just like him all over this beach – bullies, mean girls, perverts – that need to be put in their place! All you have to do is be yourself!"

Luan thought about it, then started beaming. "Hey… you're _right! Thanks,_ Lincoln!"

Lincoln shrugged. "That's what I'm here for! Now go get 'em, tiger!"

Still smiling, Luan pranced off to annoy and/or embarrass someone who deserved it. Lincoln still felt a little bad for those people, but not much. He went on his way.

Luna, meanwhile, starved of an idea as to what to do, had meandered down the beach until she happened upon a small makeshift stage, where an amateur band was playing. Sad to say, this band was not particularly good, as evidenced by the lack of people dancing. Sure, the band was not _terrible,_ given that the crowd was not booing them (or at least, ignoring them); but they _were_ lame – enough so that the crowd was beginning to disperse.

Luna weaved her way through the crowd to the front, reaching it as the band finished their song. The lead guitarist and singer pumped his fist in the air when they were done. _"Thank you!"_

The crowd responded with scattered, half-hearted applause. Luna looked at him, dumbfounded that he expected applause for that performance.

"Is that your best?" Luna called out. "Come on, dude! Here we are – now _entertain us!"_

As far as heckling went, it wasn't that bad, but the lead singer still got offended. _"Excuse_ me? You think I don't know what the crowd wants? Maybe you think you're _better_ than me, is that it?"

Offended in turn by his defensive attitude, Luna shot back, "No, I don't think so – I _know_ so!"

"Well _come on!_ Get up here and _prove it!"_

" _Fine!"_ Luna climbed onto the stage and pulled the guitar off of the frontman – but as she began to play, she realized something was wrong.

"What the…?" She played a chord. "Hey… this thing isn't even _tuned_ right!"

Several members of the crowd started snickering, wondering if the frontman even knew what he was doing. Luna tuned the guitar correctly, and as soon as she had, started shredding licks far beyond the frontman's capabilities, much to his astonishment. Luna topped off her solo with a reverberating riff, then threw up the goats as the crowd cheered.

Luna offered the guitar back to the frontman, smiling smugly. "Beat _that."_

The frontman turned red. He knew he couldn't. He folded his arms furiously, and folded.

"Can't, huh?" Luna chuckled. "Move over, Rover – let Luna take over." She grabbed the microphone. _"Are you people ready to get LOUD?"_

The crowd screamed. Luna shouted even louder, _"I said: 'ARE YOU PEOPLE READY TO GET_ _ **LOUD?!'"**_

The crowd roared with excitement. Luna turned to the rest of the band – after hearing the out-of-tune guitar, she realized that the other bandmates were competent, and it was the frontman's lack of harmony that was polluting their sound. "All right, dudes, just pick up on the energies from me and the audience, and go from there. Cool?"

The bassist and drummer nodded. Luna tapped her foot. _"One, two, three, four!"_

Lincoln managed to find Luna at around this time, and as he saw her playing in front of the dancing crowd, he knew that she was having a good time without his help. That only left one more sister.

Lincoln wandered around the crowded beach for several minutes before he was able to find Lynn, who was sulking along the edge of the water. "Hey, Lynn!" he called.

Lynn glared at him. "What do _you_ want?" she asked venomously.

Lincoln backed off a little. He decided to open with something safe to try to loosen her up. "Hey, so… have you seen Lori or Leni anywhere?"

Lynn scoffed. _"Tch…_ Lori's working on her tan and watching Lily, and Leni's off chasing after any hot guys she can find. _Typical."_

"Oh, I see. So, uh… what are _you_ doing?"

"What do _you_ care?"

"Uh… w-well… Well, I just thought, 'cause… I saw some people playing beach volleyball over there…" He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "…and I thought maybe we could join in?"

Lynn bit her lower lip. _"No thank you."_

"Why not? You'd _kill_ at that game!"

Lynn threw her hands up. _"Ugh!_ Do you think I _want_ to watch some other girl's mounds of _fat_ jiggle around in front of my eyes? For that matter, do you think I want to be _here,_ surrounded by girls flaunting their flawless skin and slutty curves for me and everyone else to see?!"

"Wha…?" Suddenly, Lincoln realized what Lynn was so upset about. "Oh… _Oh…"_ He scuffed the beach, wondering what the best way to go about this was. "Uh… Lynn… are you worried that… you're not as _pretty_ as the other girls here…?"

Lynn's expression turned even darker, and she advanced on him, holding up her fist. _"Lincoln, are you looking for a pounding?!"_

Lincoln held his hands up, backing away. "Be-Because that's about the _stupidest_ thing I've ever heard! Lynn, _what_ do you have to be ashamed of?!"

Lynn stopped. Her puzzlement had overridden her anger. "Huh…?"

Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief, then continued. "So what if you're not as… _developed…_ as some of the other girls around here? You're still growing, Lynn! Just give it time! And even if you _don't_ develop, there's still nothing wrong with that! Guys who like women based solely on their… _size…_ are nothing but shallow losers! And if they pass you up based solely on that, then… then they're overlooking everything _else_ about you! You're _sleek; hydrodynamic;_ uh… _compact!_ I'd bet my life savings that none of these girls can swim even _half_ as fast as you can, Lynn! And your freckles… w-well… some guys find freckles s… s… _sexy…!"_ Lincoln forced the last word out of his mouth.

Lynn rubbed her forearm. "Huh… I… I never thought about it that way…"

"And besides, looks aren't everything! Lynn, you're one of the coolest people I know. I don't know a single sport in _existence_ that you're not good at. And you've got a passion to match your skill. If guys can't handle that… well, then I guess they're just not _man enough_ for you."

Lynn was touched by Lincoln's words. She stared at him admiringly. _"Lincoln Loud…_ where did you learn to be such a sweet-talker?"

"I didn't _learn_ – it's a _gift."_

Lynn chuckled. "You're gonna be quite the lady-killer someday, Romeo…" Lynn sighed contentedly. _"Ah…_ well, thanks, Lincoln. I really needed that." Suddenly, she raised her fist as if to punch him. Lincoln flinched.

"Two for flinching." She hit his arm twice. _"Haha…_ But, that aside, I still don't want to be here. I mean, I'd rather be riding some high-octane rides at Dairyland…"

"Well, we can still have an exciting time _here!_ There's volleyball, like I said, and…" Lincoln looked out at the water. He spied a platform far out from the beach, and got an idea. _"Oh! Hey!"_ He pointed at the platform. "Race you to that little island-thing over there!"

Lynn snorted derisively. _''Race'?_ You… _You_ want to race _me? Seriously?"_

"Yeah, why not?"

"Lincoln, I could outswim you with both my feet tied together."

Lincoln got right up in her face. _"Prove it._ Unless you're scared you might actually _lose…"_

Lynn squinted at him. _"Ohoho,_ you're _asking_ for it, Lincoln…"

" _Bring it."_

Lynn smirked. "All right. You want to go?" Without warning, she shoved him to the ground and ran past him to the water. _"Let's go!"_

Laughing, Lincoln got up and ran after her. Both of their competitive sides had been drawn out. By the time Lincoln was halfway there, Lynn was already in the water. Lincoln picked up the pace…

…and a sharp pain lanced through his foot.

" _OW!"_

Hopping on his right foot, Lincoln looked at the sole of his left to see it oozing blood. Whatever he had just stepped on, it was _sharp._

" _Come on, slowpoke!"_ Lynn called out from the water. _"You're falling behind!"_

Lincoln shook his head. It was just a little cut – no big deal. He'd be swimming most of the time, anyway. And right now, Lynn required his attention – and if he backed out now because of this, she'd call him a wimp. The cut could wait – Lincoln had a race to swim.

Lincoln dove into the water, trying to catch up with Lynn. Back on the beach, a fresh wave washed the blood off of the object Lincoln had stepped on just as Lisa happened upon it.

"Ah. And what have we here?" Lisa pulled the buried object out of the sand. "A fractured approximate one-half of a silicate-based beverage container – street name, broken bottle." She huffed as she carried it to the trash can. "Some people have _no_ respect for the environment…"

Meanwhile, Lincoln was running out of steam. Lynn was far ahead of him now – there was no way he could catch up. He stopped to catch his breath, treading water… then something odd happened.

Lincoln looked down. He was in deep water, yet he had bumped into something.

Or rather… _something_ had bumped into _him._

Lincoln turned around. At first, he didn't see anything. When he did see it, he thought it was a trick of the light on the water. But then he truly saw it. He didn't know what it was, but it was a dark shape, making tiny waves as it cut through the water, moving closer.

Lincoln froze. There was something in the water.

And it was moving towards him.

Lincoln slowly turned to see Lynn, far away and swimming even further.

"L… Lynn…?"

And then the shape pulled him under.


	2. Chapter 2: Bloody Water

**Author's Note: Hey-ho! I read what some of you said about Luna. Hey, what can I say? Sometimes people's passions make them unlikable. This isn't the first time Luna's gotten bitchy over music, after all…**

 **I'm Captain Dodge – thank you, and have a nice day!**

(…)

With kick after kick and stroke after stroke, Lynn powered through the water. She swam the breaststroke as fast as she could – which was an impressive speed. Even if she was swimming the doggy paddle, Lynn bet that she could outswim Lincoln any day of the week. Even so, she didn't ease up on her strokes, recalling the fable of the tortoise and the hare. At times like these, Lynn only had one thing on her mind: _winning._ And that meant pushing it to the limit at all times.

Soon, Lynn reached the floating platform, pulled herself onto it, and punched the air triumphantly. _"BOOM! I win! YEAH!"_ She started doing her victory dance. _"UNH-uh-UH-uh-UHN! Lynn-er, Lynn-er, chicken dinner! WOO! In your FACE, Lincoln!"_

Lynn turned to point at her defeated brother, but found herself pointing at empty water. She stopped gloating, confused. Where had he gone?

"…Lincoln?" she said. _"Lincoln?"_

She looked around. Lincoln's distinctive white hair was nowhere in sight. Lynn's mind began racing. What could have happened? Didn't he follow her into the water? Yes, she was sure of that – Lynn had looked back early in the race, and he had been swimming far behind, trying to catch up.

Perhaps he had given up, turned back? Lynn gazed out at the beach and squinted, trying to find him. He would have been impossible to miss – besides his white hair, he also was wearing that gaudy swimsuit Leni made for him. But no matter where she looked, she didn't see him.

Was he mingling with the other swimmers? Lynn scanned the crowd, looking for a head of white hair. Every time she found one, it turned out to just be an old man or woman. There were plenty of kids in the water, but none with white hair.

Lynn was stumped. Where _was_ he? "Lincoln?" she called. _"Lincoln?"_ She started wringing her hands. "Lincoln, this _isn't funny! Lincoln?"_

Lynn started wracking her brain. _Where_ could he possibly have gone? The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the only possible place he could be… was underwater.

Trembling, Lynn looked at the water one last time. "Lincoln…?"

She saw an odd color begin to permeate the water.

" _Lincoln?"_

Slowly, she realized that the color was red.

It was blood.

" _LINCOLN!"_

(…)

Lincoln opened his mouth, but the water swallowed his screams. The thing was dragging him forwards and down – further down than he had even thought possible. Just how deep was this water? Lincoln stole a glance at the surface, and seeing how far away it was made him suddenly aware of a burning sensation in his lungs, growing stronger.

Lincoln realized that he needed to conserve oxygen, and so he shut his mouth, holding on to the last scraps of air left in his lungs. The thing continued dragging him down. The water was too dark and murky for him to see what it was, but whatever it was, it had a firm grip on his leg. Lincoln knew that if he didn't want to drown – or worse – he would have to free himself from the creature, and _fast._

The creature was below him and to the right, with his left leg in its jaws. Lincoln tried kicking the thing, and it stopped dragging him – only for it to start thrashing, shaking him back and forth. Lincoln completely lost his bearings, but as he was tossed to and fro, he began to discover that he was more flexible than he had been before, and he began struggling to free himself. The creature briefly released him, only to clamp down on his leg again, but as it flailed, Lincoln was not as battered about as he was before. Most of what Lincoln could feel from his left leg was pain – unspeakable, unimaginable _pain_ – but he also felt a small, sharp tugging sensation. Lincoln fought that sensation with all his might, and with one final twist from him, a yank from the creature, and one last searing bolt of pain… he was free.

His jubilation was short-lived – the fire in his lungs reminded him that he had spent all of his oxygen, and he struggled to right himself, looking for the surface. Everything was so murky, so _bloody_ – but Lincoln looked carefully, and he found the light. Lincoln started swimming up, but for whatever reason, his kicks didn't have the power behind them that they should have. As the burning lack of air began to become unbearable, Lincoln started panicking. The surface was so far away. _Why_ was the surface still so far away?! He kicked and stroked as hard as he could, but the exertion only made his lungs cry for more oxygen, until eventually he caved.

He gasped for air. What he got was water. His throat tightened, sending the water into his stomach instead of his lungs, but it could do nothing to provide him with oxygen. Lincoln swallowed gulp after gulp of water, jerking back and forth, desperate for even a single breath of air, but it was hopeless.

And as his brain starved for lack of oxygen, he found his vision growing darker… _darker…_

(…)

Leni prowled the beach, looking for a hot guy she could devour. Hopefully the next one would be available – as thirsty as she was, she would hate to get in between a committed relationship again. Like with that guy earlier, Brian – he was very receptive to her advances, and Leni had her arms around his thick neck, his muscular arms around her slender waist, and she was standing on her tiptoes to reach his face as he pulled her in for a kiss… when a girl came around, grabbed Leni by the hair, and threw her to the sand. Leni had barely gotten onto her knees when the girl grabbed her by the hair again and yanked her head up, demanding to know who she thought she was. Leni, genuinely confused, asked the girl who she was. The girl angrily responded that she was Brian's girlfriend, which was odd – Leni distinctly remembered Brian telling her that he didn't have a girlfriend. She told the girl as much, and, outraged, the girl released Leni and began yelling at Brian. Leni took the opportunity to crawl away while Brian's girlfriend was busy nailing him in the crotch. She felt awful about the whole affair – she had started a fight between a happy couple. Gosh, that was just the _worst…_

Well, maybe this time would be different. She walked along the beach, scoping out every guy she came across. No, too old. Too fat. Too scrawny. He didn't look very nice. Ooh, now _him,_ on the other hand – no, wait, she had tried flirting with him already, and he had a girlfriend. Lucky her… Not _him,_ he was gay – he'd told her so himself.

Leni sighed. Every guy on the beach either was taken or, if they were free, didn't meet her standards. She leaned against the lifeguard's high chair, disappointed.

Then she looked up, and saw the lifeguard.

The sun's glare obscured most of her view of him initially, but then Leni got the idea of actually wearing her sunglasses over her eyes, and she was able to see him much better. Leni checked him out. _Mmm, look at that hair,_ she thought. _Nice tan, too. Lean – not, like, SCRAWNY lean, but TONED lean; the perfect body for a swimmer. Ooh, Leni, could you be lucky this time?_

Leni unbuttoned the shirt she wore over her swimsuit so that her cleavage was showing, then leaned forward with a half-lidded look. _"Heyyy, Mr. Lifeguard…"_ she said.

The lifeguard didn't even look at her, instead continuing to watch the beach. "Hello, ma'am," he said.

Leni pouted a little as he ignored her, but she wasn't about to give up just yet. "Hey, so, I, like, need to know something…"

The lifeguard arched an eyebrow. This girl sounded familiar. "Huh?" He looked down at her.

Biting her lip, Leni flaunted her goods before his eyes. "Is this outfit… too _hot_ for the beach…?"

She _looked_ familiar, too. The lifeguard raised his sunglasses up for an unobscured view. _"Leni?"_

Leni jolted upright, surprised. "Oh, _wow!_ How did you know my name?"

"Leni, it's _me,_ Bobby!"

Leni squinted. With the sun still in her eyes, she happened upon an idea. Walking clockwise around the high chair until it was directly facing her, she got a totally clear view of him – and now she saw that yes, it _was_ Bobby.

" _Bobby?"_

At that moment, Lori (who had left Lily with Lucy and Mr. and Mrs. Loud and spied Leni flirting with the lifeguard from afar) came up to her. "There you are, Leni. Quit flirting, Mom wants you to –" As she talked, she glanced up at the high chair and saw her boyfriend sitting in it. Her heart skipped a beat. "B-Bobby?! _Bobby Boo-Boo Bear?!"_

" _Babe!"_ Bobby quickly climbed down from his perch, and they embraced happily. "What are you doing here?"

"We're on vacation! What are _you_ doing here?"

"I told you I got a new summer job, didn't I?"

"Well, I knew you were getting a job outside of town, but I never thought it would be _here!"_

"Small world, huh, babe?"

Lori laughed. _"Literally!"_ As she giggled, she remembered something – something that made her good humor instantly curdle. She turned to Leni, face contorted in fury. _"Leni…"_ she growled, _"were you FLIRTING WITH MY BOYFRIEND?!"_

Leni yelped, holding up her arms in defense. "I'm sorry, Lori!" she whimpered. "I-I didn't know it was him!"

Lori didn't buy it, but then she felt Bobby's hand on her shoulder. "No, it's okay, babe," he said. "She really didn't."

Lori folded her arms. She had to take _somebody's_ word for it – and both of them claimed the same thing. Eventually, Lori decided that Bobby would never lie to her and accepted it, shaking her head. _Classic Leni…_ she thought. "Alright, Leni," she said, "I'll forgive you." She got up in Leni's face. _"THIS time."_

Leni laughed nervously, backing off. Bobby tried to lighten the mood by making small talk. "So, babe, you and your family are on vacation here, huh?"

Lori turned back to him. "Oh, yeah! Funny story, actually – we had to choose between this or Dairyland. Five of us voted for Dairyland, while Leni and I were among the five to vote for Aloha Beach."

"Good choice, babe!"

"I know, right?"

"So, how'd you break the tie?"

Lori grinned at Leni. "We managed to get Lincoln on our side with a little… _persuasion…"_

Leni nodded, smiling. "Yeah – we bribed him!"

"Oh, I… I see…" Bobby said.

"Mm-hmm!" Leni said, oblivious to Lori shooting her a wry stare. "So, anyways, Bobby, you, like, work here?"

"Yep!" Bobby said proudly. "I applied for a job on account of my pool lifeguard training, and now, after a little extra training, I'm a _beach_ lifeguard too!"

"Cool! So, like, are your mom and Ronnie Anne here, too?"

Bobby shook his head. "No, actually, I… I'm here by myself."

Leni gasped. _"Really?"_

"Yeah! See, the thing is, my mom thinks I rely on her and Niní too much, so she sent me out here on my own – to learn how to be more independent, you know? You know, as practice for when I move out and go to college…"

"Oh, I get it!"

"Yep! So, I'm here for the summer to learn how to stand on my own two feet." Bobby rubbed the back of his head. "O-Of course, I'm staying with my cousin Eduardo while I'm doing it, but, uh, y'know… _baby steps."_

Lori chuckled slyly, sashaying up to him and dancing two fingers up his abs to his pectorals. "Oh, Boo-Boo Bear, you know how I love _strong, independent men…"_

Bobby blushed. "Y-You do?"

"Mm-hmm. In fact…" She hooked a finger in Bobby's trunks and pulled him closer by them. "…I also happen to love a man in _uniform."_

Bobby chuckled, wrapping his arms around Lori's waist and held her close, but looking down and seeing his red trunks with a cross on them reminded them of his duty. He decoupled from Lori. "Yeah, that reminds me, uh – i-it was great seeing you, babe, but, I kinda have a job to do…"

Lori nodded. "Oh, of _course,_ of _course…_ You go do your duty, then…" She sighed as Bobby climbed back into his perch. "My Boo-Boo Bear, guarding lives at the beach… So _brave…_ So _heroic…!"_

Bobby shrugged. "Eh, someone's gotta do it, babe," he said, settling back into his seat.

"And I feel _sooo_ much safer knowing _you're_ doing it." She sighed again. "So, Bobby, you're a fully-trained lifeguard?"

"Uh-huh."

"Right, because, I was just wondering…" Lori leaned against the high chair and fluttered her eyelashes. "Could you teach me… _CPR?"_

Bobby didn't answer. Lori blinked. "Bobby?"

Still no answer. Lori furrowed her eyebrows. "Um, _hello?_ Bobby? Your _girlfriend_ is talking to you!"

"Y-Yeah, uh, hold on, babe, hold on…" Bobby said distractedly, his eyes riveted on the water. He fumbled for his binoculars, managed to find them, and looked through them, never once taking his eyes off the water.

Lori and Leni followed his gaze. "Bobby…? What is it?" Lori asked.

Bobby squinted, trying to focus on what he was looking at. There was some sort of discoloration in one patch of water, further out from most of the swimmers. He concentrated hard, trying to discern the color. He was still unsure, but from where he was, it looked… _red._

 _Is that…_ _blood?_ he thought.

"Bobby, what's going on?" Lori asked, more insistently this time.

Bobby kept scanning the water. Had there been an accident? If so, what kind of accident could cause that much blood? He looked around for a struggling swimmer – or, in the worst case scenario, a body – when he saw something. An indistinct shape, moving through the water as gracefully as a fish. As Bobby watched it, he slowly realized that it _was_ a fish.

And then he saw its dorsal fin cutting the surface.

"Is…" Bobby lowered his binoculars. _"Is that a –?!"_

Bobby jumped to his feet and blew three long blasts on his whistle. _"Everyone out of the water!"_ he shouted. He blew three more blasts. _"Everyone out of the water NOW!"_ Maybe he was just seeing things. Maybe what he saw wasn't really a shark. If so, he could expect to be in trouble with his boss later. He didn't care. The safety of the swimmers was his number one priority.

Lori and Leni watched as the swimmers all hurried out of the water, their apprehension rising. Lori grabbed Bobby's high chair, looking up at him. "Bobby? Bobby, _what's happening?"_ She started shaking the chair. "Boo-Boo Bear, _tell me what's going on!"_

Bobby didn't listen, instead continuing to blow his whistle and order everyone back to the beach. He sighed in relief after seeing the crowd return safely to the beach, but it was short-lived. Far off in the distance, far away from the main body of swimmers, a pair of straggling swimmers caught his eye. Looking through his binoculars, he saw that one of them was carrying the other, and she was clearly struggling. Stranded all alone in the water, they were sitting ducks.

Bobby sprang into action, practically jumping down from his high chair and grabbing a rescue tube. Before he could rush into the water, however, Lori grabbed his hand.

"Bobby, _wait!"_ she cried, tears in her eyes. _"What are you doing?!"_

" _My job!"_ Bobby shouted back as he yanked his hand out of her grip. Lori could only watch helplessly as her beloved boyfriend jumped into unknown, but almost certain, danger…

(…)

" _Lincoln, hang on!"_

Lynn dove into the water and began swimming down, looking for Lincoln. She didn't know what happened to him, what did this to him, whether that thing was still in the water, or even _if_ something did this to him, but she pushed all those thoughts aside. Her brother was in trouble, and she was his only hope.

It was difficult to make anything out in the water, especially with all the blood, but Lynn managed to spot Lincoln, floating lifelessly in the water. She cried out, a cluster of bubbles spewing from her mouth, and she swam toward him, grabbed him, and pulled him to the surface as quickly as she could. She held Lincoln in her arms. "Lincoln…?" she said fearfully.

Lincoln didn't respond. She put her ear to his mouth. He wasn't breathing.

"No… Oh, no, no, no, no, _no, no, no, no, NO! Lincoln!"_ Trying her best to keep his head above water, she pinched his nose, opened his mouth, and blew three hard breaths into his lungs. Then, she used one hand to hold him up while blindly pounding on his chest and stomach with the other. _"Breathe…!"_ she begged. _"BREATHE…!_ _ **BREATHE, DAMMIT, BREATHE!"**_

She may have been panicking, and she may not have known what she was doing, but Lynn's frantic attempts at resuscitation still managed to work. Lincoln revived, gasping and coughing, to his sister's immense relief. His eyes fluttered open and shut, unfocused.

Lynn supported Lincoln's head. "Lincoln… Lincoln, are you alright?" she asked.

Lincoln recognized that voice. _"…Ly… nn…?"_ he said.

"That's right, Lincoln, it's okay. I've got you."

As the water darkened around the two, Lynn suddenly became aware that Lincoln was bleeding profusely. _"Oh… Oh my God!"_ she said. "Lincoln, we've got to get you back to shore!" She pulled Lincoln around until she was carrying him on her back, with his arms hanging loosely over her shoulders.

She crossed his arms around her neck and held them there. "Alright, Lincoln, I'll do all the paddling. You just hang on!"

Lincoln only groaned in response, filling Lynn with dread. Without wasting a breath, she started kicking and stroking, only to immediately lose Lincoln. Lynn turned around, expecting to see Lincoln sinking, but his instincts had kicked in, and he was treading water – albeit weakly, his head barely above water.

Looking back at him now, Lynn saw that he was barely conscious. "No, Lincoln, _no…"_ She swam back up to him and carried him on her back again, now holding his arms with both hands. Lynn began kicking only, attempting to paddle back to the beach.

It was only now that Lynn became aware of the lifeguard calling everyone out of the water. She kicked as hard and as fast as she could, but she made slow progress. Lynn had won blue ribbons for the 50m freestyle, the 100m freestyle, the 200m freestyle, the 50m breaststroke, the 50m backstroke, the 50m butterfly, the 100m butterfly… but in all those competitions, she had never been only using her legs, and never carrying another person on her back. Soon, the seemingly limitless reserves of stamina that Lynn had built up over all her sports-playing days began to dry up – and they weren't even halfway to the beach.

As Lynn began to tire, Lincoln drifted into lucidity for a brief moment. He realized that he was in the water, and Lynn was carrying him. "Lynn…" he moaned into her ear.

"H… Hang on, Lincoln, j-just _hang on!_ We're getting there!" Lynn said, panting.

Lincoln's breathing became ragged and shallow. "Lynn, I…"

"S- _Shut up!_ Just _shut up,_ Lincoln! We… We've gotta…!"

Lincoln could barely tell what was happening anymore. The only thing he could think of doing… was telling Lynn how he felt.

"… _I'm so cold, Lynn…"_

Lynn's eyes widened even further than they already were. In that moment, she knew that she was losing him. A burst of adrenaline gave her a second wind, and she kicked harder and faster than ever before…

…but it wasn't enough. By the time she ran out of stamina again, they were little more than halfway to the beach.

Lynn couldn't tell from being in the water, but she began to cry. "P… Please…" she said. "Please, God… _Please…"_

Her prayers were answered, as the next time she looked up, she saw the lifeguard swimming towards the two of them. As he got closer, they recognized each other.

" _Lynn!"_ Bobby said.

Lynn was just as surprised to see him, but she pushed those feelings aside. "Bobby… _help…"_ she gasped.

"Are you alright? I-Is that Lincoln?"

"H-He's bleeding… Bobby, _please…"_

Bobby pulled Lincoln off of Lynn's back, holding him to his chest. "I've got him. Come on!" He tossed her the rescue tube, slung the leash attached to it over his shoulder, and began swimming the sidestroke with both Lynn and Lincoln in tow…

(…)

Lola and Lana heard Bobby's panicked voice calling the swimmers back to the beach as they built another sandcastle and looked at each other, confused, before having to retreat as the swimmers complied, equally confused, destroying their sandcastle in the process. Luna, in between jams, Lisa, still collecting seashells, and Luan, telling off a pair of mean girls, all heard him as well, and stopped what they were doing to investigate. And Leni picked Lori up off her knees and got her on her feet. Soon, they were all part of the crowd of sunbathers and swimmers alike.

The crowd murmured uneasily, wondering and worrying about what was going on. Other lifeguards, drawn by the commotion, attempted to settle the crowd down. One by one, the girls all found their way back to Lucy, Lily, and their parents, and the Louds reunited.

"Dudes, what's going on?" Luna asked.

"That's what _we_ want to know!" Mr. Loud said.

"Well, _something_ must have happened," Leni said. "Bobby started –"

"Bobby's here?" Luan said.

"Yeah, he's a lifeguard. He just started blowing his whistle and shouting for everyone to get out of the water – and wouldn't explain why! Weird…"

Lucy scratched her chin, intrigued. _"Hmmm…_ could it be…?"

Lana looked around the group. "Hey, where's Lynn and Lincoln?" she asked.

Everyone else looked around as well. Soon, the Louds were all calling out for their missing members.

" _Hey, look!"_ someone in the crowd said, pointing out at the water.

Everyone started looking, and when they saw it, they began crowding towards the surf. Forced forwards by the crowd, the Louds saw, alongside everyone else, Bobby swimming back to the beach, with two swimmers in tow.

Lola squinted, trying to make out the two swimmers. "Is that… _Lynn?"_ she said.

"And based upon the composition of the crowd, there is an approximately 99.1 percent chance that the other individual… is Lincoln," Lisa said.

The Louds fought their way to the front of the crowd, anxious to see two of their own back to shore. Lynn released the rescue tube and, in one last burst of strength, swam up to Bobby's side in time to wade alongside him, dragging Lincoln back ashore.

They dragged him to the beach, close enough for the crowd to get a good look at him. Several people screamed – the Louds loudest of all.

Lincoln's left leg was gone.

It ended at the knobby end of his white femur, surrounded by shredded, hemorrhaging flesh. His kneecap hung loosely from a thin strip of tendon. The sight made Mr. Loud faint.

Lynn helped Bobby drag Lincoln onto the beach, then fell on her hands and knees, completely exhausted. The other Louds surrounded Lincoln, followed by the rest of the crowd. They immediately began bombarding Lynn and Bobby with questions and trying to check on Lincoln. Bobby, frustrated, warded them off.

" _Stand back, goddammit!"_ he shouted. "Give him some air!" He looked at another lifeguard. "Shirley! Grab the first aid kit!"

"First aid kit?!" Lori said as Shirley ran to the lifeguard tower to fetch it. "Forget _that!_ He needs _serious_ help, _right now!"_

Bobby gritted his teeth. He knew Lori was right – every second they wasted could mean the difference between life and death. "…All right. First, we have to stop the bleeding." He looked up at Leni, then pointed at her. "Leni, I need your shirt!"

Leni blinked, taken aback. "Excuse me?"

" _Now!"_

Leni yelped, hurriedly removing her shirt and handing it to Bobby, who promptly tore it in half.

"My _shirt!"_ Leni cried out, only to immediately regret it. How could she think about her clothes at a time like _this?_

Bobby tied one half of the shirt around Lincoln's thigh, then pointed at Lana. "Lana, I need your shovel!" he said.

Lana handed her toy shovel over without any complaints, and Bobby slipped it through the looped rag, creating a makeshift tourniquet which he tightened.

Lisa tried to sound calm, but emotion still managed to creep into her voice. "B-Bobby," she said, "is there any way that we might be of assistance?"

"If you want to help," Bobby said, "then keep that leg elevated. And somebody hold this!"

Lucy lifted Lincoln's lacerated leg up in the air, while Lola took the tourniquet from Bobby and held it tight. As she held the leg, Lucy noticed something stuck in it. It looked like a bone fragment. Almost absentmindedly, she plucked it out of the torn muscle, just as Bobby wrapped the other half of the shirt around the bleeding stump.

Shirley returned with the first aid kit, and Bobby ordered her to use the bag valve mask on Lincoln. He looked around the crowd, noting with approval that everyone who had a phone was frantically dialing 9-1-1.

"N-Now what?" Lola asked.

Bobby wiped his brow. "I've done everything I can. Now, all we can do is wait until the paramedics arrive."

Mrs. Loud knelt by her son's side. Lincoln was deathly pale, and no longer conscious. His skin was cold and clammy to the touch. Overcome by the sorry state he was in, she collapsed in a sobbing heap on his chest.

" _Oh, my sweet baby…"_ she cried.

Some of the other beachgoers began weeping too, touched by the poignant scene and frightened for the young boy's life. Lucy remembered that she still had the bone fragment in her hand. She looked at Lisa. "Lisa," she said, "do you mind taking over for me?"

Lisa obliged, taking Lincoln's leg from her and keeping it elevated. Lucy stood up and examined the bone fragment. It was triangular in shape, with serrated edges and a sharp point.

Lucy uttered a quiet _"Gasp."_ It wasn't a bone fragment. It was a _tooth._

Meanwhile, the other sisters were yelling at Lynn out of fear for Lincoln's life.

"Lynn, what happened out there?!"

"Was he with you when this happened?!"

"You were supposed to be taking care of him! This was _your_ responsibility!"

" _Why weren't you watching him, Lynn?!"_

Lynn sobbed helplessly, outnumbered and overwhelmed. Lori shouted the others down.

"Guys, _enough!"_ She sighed, came up to Lynn, kneeled down, and put one hand on her shoulder. "Lynn, please tell us: _what happened?"_

Lynn shook her head. _"I… I didn't… I don't…"_

Lucy stepped between her and the others. "Two words." She held up the tooth for everyone to see.

" _Shark attack."_


	3. Chapter 3: Trauma Center

**Author's Note: Hey-ho! Boy, been a while, hasn't it? Yeah, I don't know what happened to this story, but I guess I just lost my feel for it, you know? I kept trying to update it, but I just kept stalling out. But considering the time of year, I'd be remiss if I didn't update it now, so here you go!**

 **I'm Captain Dodge – thank you, and I hope you had a great Shark Week!**

(…)

Just as every person is unique, so too are their reactions to grief and trauma. In any given hospital lobby, the friends and families of those receiving treatment or undergoing emergency care give insight into their characters as they await the outcome of their loved ones' care.

On that long summer day, one family alone displayed the full spectrum of reactions as the life of their son hung by a thread.

Lori paced endlessly, back and forth, though never the same way twice. She never had a destination, only a path. Never before had she felt so helpless – so _helpless_ to do anything as a big sister. Her brother lay on an operating table, hovering between life and death – nothing she could do about that. The thought of placing his life in the hands of complete strangers was driving her insane and leaving her at a loss.

And so, she wandered aimlessly, doing what little her collapsed ego allowed her as her family fell apart all around her.

She passed by Leni, who was still sobbing uncontrollably. The memory of seeing Lincoln lying on the beach, pale as a ghost, his bloody stump staining the sand red, was burned into her mind, and she cried as she did the moment she saw him, not stopping since. She thought he was dead right then and there – even Bobby's assurances that he still had a pulse and that he was still breathing could not dispel her doubt. When the ambulance came and carried Lincoln away, Leni thought that would be the last time she would ever see her little brother alive, and that only shattered the remainders of her heart into even tinier fragments. Even now, here, at the hospital, where the chance that Lincoln would make it presented itself, the tears didn't stop. The very thought of being bereft of her beloved baby brother sent Leni into hysterics, and nothing any of the other Louds could say or do could make her calm down.

Lori briefly sat down next to Leni, whose face was buried in the crook of her arm as she bent over the armrest. Despite it all, she couldn't help but be impressed by how much the normally sunny, gentle girl could cry so hard for so long, when even her baby sister Lily had cried herself to sleep. Placing one limp-wristed hand on Leni's shoulder, she offered yet some more hollow consolation – the only capacity now allowed to her.

"It's okay, Leni…" she said, "…Lincoln's gonna be okay. We just… We just have to trust the doctors, okay?"

Leni just kept on wailing, seemingly oblivious to Lori's efforts. Sighing, Lori got up and slunk away.

Mrs. Loud, indomitable as she was, was holding Lily in her arms and comforting her husband. Lori admired and envied her mother for her strength – she thought she was just as strong, but this situation proved her wrong. She should have known – it takes an exceptional kind of spirit to bear and raise eleven children.

Lily – the hardest, longest crier in the Loud family – had cried herself to sleep, where she was no doubt having an awful nightmare about her big brother, judging by how fitful she was in her repose. Mr. Loud was crying just like Leni. Actually, not _just_ like Leni. Mr. Loud wasn't blubbering the way he was when the kids trashed Vanzilla while fighting over the "Sweet Spot", or when Luna kicked him out of the family band – here, he sounded legitimately distraught, with raw emotion soaking through his words like rain through clothes. He sniffled, wiping his tears away with his sleeve.

"I… I was never that close to him. I was never that close to Lincoln," he lamented. "I used to think I was, because we were the only boys in the family, but, but with so many kids, I… I-I-I just couldn't give him enough attention, and-and-and… E-Even when I did, we weren't that close… I was always closer to Lynn, and Luna, and Luan, and now I might never…" He buried his face in his hands. "I-I don't know what to do… Rita, i-if I lose my only son, I don't know if I'll be able to forgive myself…"

"We _won't."_ Mrs. Loud put a hand on Mr. Loud's shoulder. "We won't lose him." She pulled him in for a hug. "We just have to have faith…"

And speaking of faith… Lori moved on to the twins, who were kneeling on the floor, facing the wall, heads bowed and hands pressed together. Lola was weeping, barely able to get her words out, while Lana was slightly more composed, although tears still ran down her cheeks as she whispered her prayers to whatever higher power might be listening. At the same time, she played the priest to Lola's impromptu confession.

Lola sniffled. "And-And I'm sorry I fought with him over a dollar last Sunday, and-and I'm sorry I hit him with a golf club, and… and I'm sorry I made fun of him for liking _Princess Pony…_ and… and…" She shook her head and looked up at the ceiling, distraught. She knew that there was more to confess to – _much_ more – but it just wasn't coming to her. "I-I-I'm _sorry!_ I'm sorry for everything bad that I ever did! I know I did a lot of bad things, but I'm _sorry!_ I _am!_ Just… please…" Sobbing helplessly, she bowed her head again, pressing it against the wall, groveling before God. _"Please…_ don't take him away…"

Lana's expression became even more pained upon hearing those words, and her voice trembled as she continued muttering a stream of prayers. Lori, meanwhile, shook her head. Typical Lola – always so _selfish._ Even when she was worrying about others, she somehow found a way to make it all about _herself._

She sighed. Oh well – at least she still _cared,_ in her own self-centered way.

Lori continued onwards. She went to Lisa, who was still pacing all across the waiting room, just like her. For a tiny four-year-old, she moved fast, and Lori had a hard time keeping up with her.

Lisa declined to acknowledge Lori's presence, though the latter knew she still recognized it. "…utter ridiculousness, all of it," she ranted quietly. "I am fully trained in trauma surgery, as well as general surgery. I have a Ph.D. in every field imaginable. I have a _Nobel Prize."_ Aware that she had a listener, her voice began increasing in volume. "And they _won't let me operate._ They won't let me _advise the procedure._ They won't even let me _see him!"_ She looked up at the ceiling and curled her fingers, as though she were squeezing two invisible balls. "Why?! _Why won't they let me operate?!"_

"Because you're just a kid, Lisa," Lori answered.

Lisa stopped, turned to face Lori, and shot her a withering glare that fully demonstrated the petulance that was expected of a normal girl her age. "There it is," she spat venomously. _"There they are –_ the three words that have held me back since the day I emerged from Mother's womb _. Just. A. Kid_." She bit off each word. "It's foolishness, _madness!_ They are the world's most preeminent geniuses – shouldn't they be able to see how intelligent I am? Shouldn't they see what I'm capable of, what I can do for mankind?" She ground her teeth. "But _no._ To them, I'm _'just a kid'._ And because of that, they won't let me implement clean, renewable, efficient sources of energy! They won't accept my robotic designs and blueprints – at _best_ , they'll shamelessly plagiarize them! They set aside my dissertations and theses as if they were crude drawings that one pins up on the refrigerator!" At the height of her impotent rage, she shut her watering eyes and stomped her foot. _"And they won't let me SAVE MY BROTHER'S **LIFE!"**_

Lori sighed wearily. "Lisa," she said, "look at you. You're _literally_ throwing a tantrum. That right there is why they don't take you seriously – not because you're not _smart_ enough for them, but because you're not _mature_ enough. Think about it: if you _were_ in that operating room, with Lincoln under the knife – _your_ knife – would you even be able to _look at him,_ let alone operate on him? Considering the state you're in now…"

Lisa glowered up at her, biting her lip. Lori was right – she knew it, and she _hated_ it. Blinking back tears, she threw up her hands and growled in frustration, storming off. Lori didn't bother trying to follow her.

She looked around the waiting room. Lynn and Luan were lost causes, same as Leni – no-one could get through to them, though it didn't stop Luna from trying to console her roommate. With Luan, then, at least she didn't have to worry.

And then… her eyes fell upon _her._

Lucy sat apart from the others, alone, unnoticed – only this time, the lack of attention was deliberate. And Lucy preferred it that way, because she could be alone with her thoughts.

 _My fault._

She unfurled her fist like a blooming flower, revealing the shark's tooth inside. She weakly lifted a finger, tracing its serrated edges. She pictured what a mouthful of these would do to a puny human's body, trying not to imagine… _his_ body.

 _My fault._

The memories of the beach returned to her.

(…)

 _"Impossible… It CAN'T be…!"_

 _"It had to have been a boating accident!"_

 _"You see any boats around here?"_

 _"But… come on! A shark attack? Here?! Come on!"_

 _"You…! Don't you see?! Look – here, here, little girl, come here – you see that? That is a TOOTH! A SHARK TOOTH! And look at the poor kid's leg! What more proof do you need?!"_

 _"I… It… I-It's true, isn't it…? There was a shark, at this beach…!"_

 _"Oh my God…!"_

(…)

Lucy closed her fist and her eyes, remembering the panic that engulfed the other beachgoers – the panic that _she_ caused.

 _It's my fault…_

She hung her head. She had to tell them – she knew that. Even if they had no way of finding out on their own, she knew that the guilt would eat her alive until she would be left with nothing to do but confess. And then…

Lucy shuddered. She didn't want to think about _"and then"._

She sank into her seat, trying to melt into it. She tried to limit her consciousness to herself, but inside, she was a morass of guilt and despair, so she kept hovering at the edge. She tossed out a few probes of awareness, jolting when one of them caught someone sitting down next to her.

It was Lori. Looking up at her face, Lucy knew exactly what she was going to say – just not exactly _how_ she was going to say it. _Here it comes…_ she thought, bracing herself for impact.

Lori let loose a heavy sigh. "…Well, Lucy," she drawled wearily, "you got what you wanted. I don't know how… or _why…"_ She looked up at the ceiling. "…but you got what you wanted." A solitary sob escaped from her chest, and she held her arms as though she was trying to give herself a hug. _"I hope you're happy…"_

Lucy had suspected that no amount of bracing could stop her from crumbling under an attack right now – even one as light as that – and she was right. She buried her face in her hands and started crying. Not letting single tears roll down her stoic face, but _crying_ – a complete betrayal of her goth image. Goths suffered in silence, brooding about the inevitability of death and oblivion – but now, Lucy realized that she might lose her brother to the Reaper and _wept._

Lori sighed – her sobs might have been much softer, but they were still just as heartrending as Leni's. "…I'm sorry, Lucy," she said, though she didn't offer a comforting hug. "I know you must be feeling plenty guilty already. But…" She shook her head – as she remembered the events leading up to this hospital visit, she felt her indignation returning. "Just… _why,_ okay?! _Why_ would you wish for something like this?!"

To Lucy's surprise, she still had enough composure to put up a weak defense. "I…" she said, gasping to hold back her sobs, "I… n-never wanted… _this…"_

Lori chuckled mirthlessly. _"'I don't care who it is – I WILL see someone get attacked by a shark this weekend.'"_ She gave her little sister a scornful glare. "Your words, Lucy."

The reminder sent Lucy collapsing back into a heap. Once again, Lori was torn between showing her contempt or pity. "I…" She groaned. "Look, I'm _sorry,_ all right? It's just, all this is… I-I mean, I've been going around, and, and…" She slumped into the back of her seat. "I'm _exhausted,_ okay? I've been doing everything I can, and I'm _exhausted."_

Lucy sniffled, wiping away her tears. "…It-It's okay, Lori," she said. "I understand…" She sighed – not saying the word _"sigh",_ but actually sighing. "…I deserve it."

Lori rolled her head in Lucy's direction. "Lucy…" she started, and stalled there. It was just as she thought – she was all out of gas. So, she gave up, exhaling slowly and watching the chaos around her.

Lucy joined her, looking from sibling to sibling, to parents and back. Every time she looked at one of them, a little more guilt swelled inside her. On the one hand, she hated it. On the other hand, she wanted it – almost _needed_ it to remind her that she had indeed done wrong, instead of becoming lost in self-pity. She knew (well, she _should have_ known) that this would be the result of a shark attack: a grieving family weeping over the tragedy that befell them – and not even necessarily her own family.

 _Why,_ then? _Why_ would she wish for one to happen?

Lucy pulled her feet up onto the seat and hugged her knees to her chest.

She didn't know. For the life of her, she just _didn't know._

"…You all hate me, don't you?" she said after a while.

Lori, still recuperating, could only loll her head towards her again. "…Hm?"

"All of you. You all hate me." It made sense – Lucy hated _herself_ a lot right now.

Lori stared back into the distance, looking for the right words. "…Well, right now, we're all too busy being worried about Lincoln," she said after a while. "But if you're talking about _later…_ we'll be _mad at you,_ sure. But we won't _hate_ you yet."

 _Yet._ That was the operative word – _yet._ Although Lucy was afraid to ask, she did anyway. "Wh… What do you mean?"

Lori sighed. "Listen, Lucy, we know this isn't really your fault. We _know_ that."

Her words, although meant to be comforting, only stabbed Lucy through the heart. This was the perfect opportunity to tell her about her involvement in this affair. She deserved the truth – they _all_ did. And yet… when Lucy opened her mouth, nothing came out.

Oblivious to Lucy's confession attempt, Lori continued. "But considering everything that's happened… it might as well be to us." She paused. "…That's why a lot of us are going to keep being mad at you for a while after this." Finally, Lori turned her entire body towards Lucy. "But that's the _best case scenario._ That's assuming Lincoln pulls through."

Lucy didn't dare to look back at Lori, instead keeping her gaze rooted to the floor.

"Lucy…" Lori said, "…I'm only telling you this to be fair and honest to you. I _know_ the others. _You_ know the others. If Lincoln dies on that operating table…" She shook her head.

"…they'll _never_ forgive you."

Lucy shuddered. She knew she didn't have a thick skin, like Lincoln. She already had a rough time handling their anger – how could she possibly handle their _hatred?_ "Wh-Wh-Wh-What do you think they'll do to me?"

Lori thought about it for a while, then uttered a long, slow sigh and shook her head. "…I don't know, Lucy. I really don't know."

With a shaking hand, she reached up and grasped Lori's shirt. "L-L-L-Lori…" she stuttered, "…p-p-p- _please…_ I-If that happens… _please_ defend me from them…"

Lori shook her head. "I won't be able to, Lucy. And I don't think I'll _want_ to, either…"

Now Lucy grasped Lori by the shirt with both hands. "Lori, _please…!_ Y-You know I didn't want this to happen, right? You _know that!"_

"No, Lucy, I _don't._ I know what you said." Lori shrugged. "Then again, I also know that you love Lincoln with all your heart – your black, shriveled-up heart – so I can assume that you mean you didn't want this to happen to _him,_ right?"

"Yes!"

"…Yeah." Lori pried Lucy's hands off of her. "But it happened anyway. And now we're _all_ paying the price…"

"No…" Lucy hung and shook her head. "No, no, no, no, no… Please, Lori, _please –_ there has to be _something_ I can do to make this right…"

By now, Lori was fully recharged and thoroughly sick of talking to Lucy, but she still couldn't summon the strength to get up and leave. So, she sighed and said, "Well, you could go around and try to hold everyone together – _that'd_ be a start." Now that she finally had a chance to rest, her tamped-down emotions started welling up, and they crept into her speech as she spoke. "Because I've been going around for hours trying to make everyone feel better, and I haven't had the time to really _process_ what's been going on, or have the chance to grieve myself…" She started gasping and hiccupping. "…and you don't know how – h-how _hard_ it is, t-to do all of this while, while I think about Lincoln _lying there_ , on that table, _not knowing whether he's gonna make it or not, and, and, and…"_

At last, Lori's repressed sadness overflowed, and she started sobbing uncontrollably. Once again, Lucy felt the pangs of guilt, and she decided to start her job of consoling the others with her eldest sister. She placed a hand on Lori's shoulder. "Lori –"

But Lori threw her hand off, scowling and pointing at the others. _"Just GO!"_

Taken aback at first, Lucy sagged and let her be. Clearly, Lori wanted to be alone to vent . With a heavy heart, she left Lori sitting in her chair and began trekking towards the others.

Once she was at about an even distance from every sister, she looked around, not sure with whom to start. Since Leni seemed the most upset (outwardly, at least), Lucy decided to start with her. She approached Leni quietly, opened her mouth… and froze.

Looking at Leni's grief-stricken face, Lucy was at a total loss. What was she supposed to say? _"Stop being sad"?_ No way was that acceptable – _that_ much she knew. She knew how Leni felt – she thought – but she had no idea how to address those feelings. Leni wasn't _her,_ and _she_ couldn't even figure out how to handle _herself!_

That was Lucy's problem – she didn't _get_ people. Not even herself, fully. Lucy always knew that, but now she was especially aware of it. To not understand something was to fear it – and so Lucy withdrew from people, keeping to herself. But the lifestyle of a human being inevitably brings one into contact with others, and so she learned the bare minimum required for social interaction, mostly from her siblings and parents. But she never truly _got_ them.

And now, if she wanted to start putting things to right, she had to start trying to _get_ them.

Lucy looked to Lori for guidance, but she found none – Lori was too busy letting it all out. Helplessly, she turned back to Leni and took a deep breath. She _really_ didn't want to, but she had to _try._ She took one, then two, then three baby steps towards Leni, trembling like a wet cat.

"U-Um… Leni…?"

Leni started at the sound of her voice, looked up at her, and for the first time in hours, stopped crying. But her tears were immediately replaced by a damning, bloodshot look – a look that made Lucy choke on her next words; a look that pierced right through to her soul (if even she had one).

A look that screamed, _"Why…?"_

"Uhhhhhhhh…" Lucy uttered; her meager momentum had vanished. "I-I… I, uh… L-Leni, I…"

Leni watched her stutter, then sniffled, slumping atop the back of the seat and staring off into space. "H-He…" She gulped, drawing in a shuddering breath. "…He's gonna die, isn't he?"

Lucy blinked, taken aback. "Wh-What?"

"Linky. He's gonna die…" Leni sniffled again. "He wouldn't be here if it weren't for us… We brought him here, and now he's gonna _die_ here…!"

"H-H- _Hey,_ Leni!" Lucy ran up and grabbed Leni's forearm. "Don't say that! Lincoln… Lincoln might not die!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew what a pitiful comfort they were – and sure enough, they did nothing to make Leni feel better. "But he _might,_ too!" she said. "He might… He _might… He might…!"_

Leni collapsed into a heap again. Clearly, Lucy wasn't the only one suffering from guilt, though Leni's words filled her with even more. She, Lori, Leni, Lola, and Lily would never have gotten Lincoln's vote were it not for her ploy with the rare _Ace Savvy_ comic book.

In a way, _she_ was responsible for this entire mess.

Lucy sagged in defeat. Given her lack of progress, and fearing trying again might make Leni feel even _worse,_ she left her elder sister be, and slinked away. She felt like giving up then and there – quitting while she was behind.

But Lori had calmed down slightly by now, enough to shoot Lucy a glare that told her that she had to try again.

She had to know what Lori had to deal with on an almost-daily basis.

With a heavy heart, Lucy moved on to Luna and Luan, sitting together. Luan sat quietly, eyes wide and staring at nothing, while Luna held and stroked her hand, whispering gently.

Intertwining her fingers, Lucy turned her head upwards to look at Luan. "U-Um… Uh…" She gnawed on her lower lip. "…H-H-Hey, Luan. Um…" She turned her gaze to the side, trying to think about what Luan might want to hear. "H-Hey, have you… Um…" She turned back. "H-Have you… got any jokes to lighten the mood…?"

That might have been the first time that she, or _any_ of her siblings, had ever _asked_ Luan for a joke. Ordinarily, Luan would have been delighted to oblige. But now, she didn't even acknowledge Lucy's presence.

"It's no use, Luce," Luna said. "She's sitting in her Nowhere Land." She leaned over to whisper in Luan's ear and stroke her hair. _"It's okay, Luan, I'm right here with you. Don't you feel lonely, now…"_

Lucy cocked her head at Luna. "…If she's not listening to you, then why are you still talking to her?"

Luna shrugged. "'Cuz she… and _they…"_ She nodded at Lynn, Lola, Leni, Lori, and Mr. and Mrs. Loud in order. "…they might not be talking, but they're asking for a contribution. And, well, y'know…" She shrugged again. "We're all doing what we can… even though…"

Lucy mulled over her words. _Perseverance,_ she thought. She used to think that perseverance was futile – that the efforts and accomplishments of everyone meant nothing in the face of oblivion. But now… now that she stopped to really _think_ about it, she wondered why.

After all, if the doctors gave up now, then Lincoln would…

Lucy didn't finish that thought. Instead, she took a seat next to Luna. "…Yeah," she said. "Gotta… Gotta think… _positive,_ right?"

Luna gave the young goth a sidelong glance. _"'Think positive'?_ All right, who are you, and what have you done with Lucy?"

"I-I _mean_ it!"

"Yeah, dude, I know. Just a joke." She gave Luan a wan smile. "That's just part of how we cope, isn't it? Laugh at the pain…"

When Luan didn't respond, Luna let her head loll back over the back of the seat and closed her eyes, firing off short, quiet blasts of breath that might have been chuckles if she'd put more emotion into them. "Yeah… _'Think positive'._ Easy for you to say, Miss Doom-and-Gloom – you _like_ stuff like this, don't you?" Luna smirked scornfully. "Bet you're _thinking_ you're so lucky that things turned out the way they did, and you got your precious shark attack, huh?"

And just like that, it hit her. All of a sudden, Lucy knew why – why she had wanted a shark attack in the first place. _Because it's morbid,_ a voice inside her said. _That's it – that's all there is to it. You don't NEED any other reasons. That's you. That's all you are – Miss Doom-and-Gloom. You don't care about the needs of OTHERS, their FEELINGS – you don't care about ANYTHING. Anything… except being as much of a FREAK as possible._

Lucy shook her head slowly. "N-No…" she whispered.

 _So your brother got his leg bitten off by a shark, huh? That's pretty horrific – and, therefore, cool. Hey, he's on the operating table right now – wouldn't it just be SO dark if he died, and you had to go to his funeral and stuff? That'd make a KILLER poem!_

Lucy started shivering. "S-Stop…"

 _You could give his eulogy – tell everyone how death has claimed your brother, and how his soul wanders lost in the misty void beyond! Heck, you could even tell them that YOU got him killed – just to see the looks on all their faces! Lucy Loud, who murdered her brother Lincoln – you could angst about that for DECADES!_

"…He's _not_ dead," Lucy told herself. "N-Not… Not… _yet…"_

Luna snorted. "Right. _'Think positive'…_ You wanna know what I'm _thinking_ right now?"

"What?"

"I'm thinking just how freaking _impossible_ it is for a shark to be up here, in Lake Michigan. I mean, first of all, it's a _freshwater lake._ Sharks stick to the sea, right?"

"I…" Lucy scratched her head. "…I don't know," she admitted sheepishly.

"Eh, I'll ask Lise later – bet she'll know. Point is… just how likely is it for a shark not only to be in Lake Michigan, but also at that very beach, just today?"

Lucy pondered it, and after pushing aside her emotions to look at what had happened today from a logical perspective, she realized just how unlikely the events of today were. "Uh… n-not likely," she replied.

"Exactly." She looked at Lucy. "You know what? I'm thinking that the winds of destiny blew that shark right into the lake, just to take a bite out of Lincoln."

Lucy gaped at Luna. _"What?_ W-What are you saying?"

 _"Heh…_ I'm saying that maybe something like this was _meant_ to happen – even if we didn't come _here_. Like, I'm thinking that if _we_ won, and we went to Dairyland instead, Lincoln might've fallen off the Milk Shaker, or something like that… broken every bone in his body…"

Normally, a thought like that would have filled Lucy with excitement. But by the sole virtue of it happening to Lincoln, she was horrified. _"Luna!"_ she said. "How can you say that?!"

Luna shrugged. "Just a bad thought, brah. Like, it doesn't matter where, or maybe even _when –_ something bad was meant to happen to Lincoln. Like, it was unavoidable."

Lucy froze. _It WAS avoidable, though, wasn't it?_ the voice inside her said. _If you hadn't peed in the water, the shark never would have come to the beach, would it? It never would have come to the beach, and it never would have attacked Lincoln. Face it, Lucy – this is all YOUR fault._

Luna chuckled mirthlessly. _"Heh…_ listen to me…" She turned to look down at Lucy. "I'm starting to sound like _you,_ Luce."

The comparison left Lucy stewing in her own misery, whimpering. Luna nodded. "Mm-hmm. But you know, dude, that aside… you're right. We still gotta do what we can. Gotta think positive. Gotta have _hope._ And if it all looks hopeless, well, we'll just, I don't know… _keep on keeping on."_ She leaned back, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Because, you know, that's just what we _do,_ dude – we _keep on keeping on._ And if we _can't,_ well…" She turned to Luan. "We go to our Nowhere Land, where we make all our Nowhere Plans for Nobody." She patted Luan's hand. "Like you, dude. Don't blame ya – I'm starting to feel like taking a trip down there myself…"

Lucy hung her head, deeply ashamed. Without even managing a goodbye, she got up and left. This time, she didn't even bother looking at Lori – she could _feel_ her gaze on her. _"Not so easy, is it, huh, Mistress of the Dark?"_ she could imagine her saying.

And no – it wasn't.

Lucy didn't know how she was going to keep this up, but reluctantly she forged onwards, sitting next to Lynn. This, at least, might be easier – after all, Lucy knew Lynn better than anyone.

Lynn sat slumped in her seat, hugging her knees to her chest. Though she felt awkward initiating physical contact, Lucy reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, feeling her shivering where she could not see it.

"H-Hey, Lynn…" she said.

Lynn grunted a half-hearted greeting in response.

"How… How do you feel?"

Lynn slowly curled up tighter, hiding her face in her knees, and stayed there for a while. "…You wanna know how I feel?" she said eventually.

"How?"

Lynn made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sob, and she turned to Lucy, letting her raw emotions drill from her eyes into her little sister. _"…Worthless."_

Lucy removed her hand. "Wh- _What?"_

Lynn sighed, looking back at the floor. "…You know that I always, _always,_ give it 110 percent, don't you, Lucy? _Always."_

Lucy nodded. "Y-Yes, I do…"

"That's it – that's my key to victory. _'Always give it 110 percent, no matter what.'_ Because if you don't give it your best, you can't say that you _wanted_ it. You can't say that you _tried._ And, most of the time… you don't _win_ if you don't give it your all." She dug her nails into her calves, her breathing becoming laborious. "A-And it _works,_ you know? M-Most of the time, it _works._ B-Because I'm _me –_ I'm _Lynn Loud Jr._ Well… Well, not _this_ time. I _did_ want it. I _did_ try. I _did_ give it 110 percent. But it…" She sniffled, then turned to Lucy. "…It _wasn't enough._ Do you understand what that _means,_ Lucy? For the first time in… I don't know, _forever…_ my best… wasn't…" She buried her face in her knees again. _"My best… wasn't GOOD enough…"_

Sobs escaped from the ball Lynn had curled into, and it humiliated her knowing that Lucy could see her crying. Lucy understood exactly where Lynn was coming from; though she'd never admit it, Lynn was a lot more insecure than she let on. Lucy was no psychologist, but she was quite sure that Lynn had an inferiority complex – one not helped in the slightest by her short stature, underdeveloped girl parts, and many talented siblings. Success validated Lynn's entire existence; failure left her foundering.

And the thought of letting Lincoln down when he needed her the most had brought her to the brink of total collapse.

Lucy put a hand on Lynn's shoulder again. "B-But Lynn…" she said, "…it _was_ good enough. You got Lincoln out of the water –"

 _"NO!"_ Lynn snapped, causing Lucy to recoil. _"No, I didn't!_ It was _Bobby_ who dragged Lincoln _and_ me out of the water; _Bobby_ was the one who gave Lincoln first aid!" Lynn sniveled and choked. "And _me…_ I couldn't even get _halfway_ to the beach! _Me,_ Lucy! Don't you understand?! I'm _Lynn Loud!_ I'm supposed to be the _strongest,_ the _fastest –_ the _best!"_ She shook her head. "And I _couldn't save him!_ I don't know first aid; I've never swam while carrying someone! If-If it weren't for Bobby, Lincoln would have _died_ there, at that beach!" She laughed bitterly, wiping away tears. "A-And you know what? He _still_ might die. So, everything Bobby and I did to save him? It would have amounted to _nothing."_ Uttering a sigh heavier than anything Lucy could produce, Lynn rested her chin on her knees. "…So, you want to know how I'm feeling, thinking that there's nothing I could have done to save Lincoln's life, no matter how hard I tried?" She closed her eyes. _"Worthless._ I'm feeling pretty freaking _worthless."_

Lucy sat quietly, digesting Lynn's rant and looking for the right response before her sister sank entirely into despair. After a while, she said the best one she could muster: "We… We know you did your best, Lynn. We wouldn't expect anything less from you. But I guess sometimes…" She paused, recalling what Luna had said to her. Her next words felt like rusty hooks, ripping her heart apart. "Sometimes, no matter how hard you try… things are just… just… _out of your control._ And as hard as it is, you…" She bit her lower lip. "…you just have to accept that. Tell yourself that you did your best, and that's all anyone could ever ask of you."

Lynn didn't respond, only tucking her head back into the fetal position. Dismayed by the next few minutes of silence, Lucy sighed, stood up, and prepared to leave.

 _"…'Out of my control',_ huh…?"

Lucy stopped and turned around. "Huh?"

Lynn looked back up. "You're saying this was _'out of my control'?"_

Lucy sat back down next to her. "Y-Yes…?"

Lynn snorted, relaxing her sitting position. _"Right…_ Lucy, you know I hate to lose, right? Don't answer that, that was a rhetorical question – yes, I do. I had my own reasons for wanting to go to Dairyland, same as Luna, Luan, Lana, and Lisa. But more than that, I wanted to get Lincoln on our side. I wanted to _win._ And when you guys snagged his vote, I got mad. _Really_ mad. I could have just let it go, you know? Let it go, and make the most of my weekend at the beach. But no – I decided to get all _pouty,_ and _sore._ And Lincoln… _heh._ You know Lincoln, always trying to make things right when he feels like he screwed up…"

"Y-Yeah…"

"He just _had_ to cheer me up, challenge me to a race. No, really – he _had_ to do that. It's just part of what he does. Me? I could have said 'no'. Said, _'Thanks, Linc, but I'm feeling a lot better now, okay? Let's just play some beach volleyball.'"_ She shook her head. "But _nope –_ I just _had_ to make it a competition again; just _had_ to race him; just _HAD_ to be a sore loser and get him to challenge me in the first place." She laughed sardonically. "Yeah… you know what? Losing Lincoln's vote _and_ the shark being there might have been out of my control, but everything else sure as heck _wasn't."_

Lucy remembered what Leni had said. Because of her, the family had gone to Aloha Beach for their annual summer vacation.

Because of her, all of this was possible.

Lucy's soul strained under the weight of the added guilt. Tears welled in her eyes and her teeth chattered as she placed her hand on Lynn's shoulder again. "L-L-L-Lynn…" she said, struggling, "I… _I'm sorry…"_

Lynn waved dismissively, not even looking at her. "…Don't be, Lucy. This wasn't _really_ your fault…"

 _But it WAS,_ the voice inside Lucy said. _Why don't you just tell her that, get it out of the way? You like to think you're a dark little mystery, girl, but your siblings can read you like a book. They'll see how guilty you feel, and then they'll see how guilty you ARE. You think you can really keep your mouth shut about this, Lucy? Even if you can, they won't stop sniffing around to find out what's wrong. One way or another, they're going to find out what you did. You messed up BIG TIME, Lucy – and sooner or later, you're going to have to pay the price…_

"All you did was _wish_ for a shark attack," Lynn continued. "You didn't make it _happen…"_

Lucy couldn't stand it anymore. She couldn't _do_ it anymore – forget what Lori said! She got up, ran to the furthest corner of the room, and curled up there and cried. She was _terrible_ at this "consoling" thing. Not only had she failed to make Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn feel better, she'd actually managed to make Lynn feel _worse_ – to say nothing of how their words were making _her_ feel. She _had_ to confess, she knew that! She _HAD_ to! But… But…

Lucy started lightly banging her head against the wall. But how _could_ she?

For half an hour, she sat there, inconsolable, while the others did their own things themselves. Lori had recovered, and was up and about again Mrs. Loud had joined her, having left Lily with her husband. Lucy could hear them walking around, handing out soothing words to the others. They were a little more effective than she was at comforting them, but only a little; their kind words were like the tides, causing the waves of depression to ebb for a momentary reprieve before they swept back in, knocking down the flimsy, crumbling walls the Louds had thrown up against them.

Neither of them ever came over to comfort her, though. Perhaps that was because Lucy was just that forgettable. Or maybe they were ignoring her on purpose. Either reason was plausible.

Either way, Lucy was alone, and she wanted it that way.

Her self-imposed exile was ended when she heard someone approaching by their heavy footsteps and their weary sniffling. Looking up, Lucy saw that it was Lana.

Lana wiped her dripping nose with the back of her hand, trailing a strand of mucus. Her eyes were red and puffy. "Th-Th-There you are, Lucy," she said. "I…" She gulped. "I've be-been looking everywhere for you…"

That caught Lucy off-guard. "Wh –? _Me?_ Why?"

Lana sat on the floor next to Lucy, hugging her knees. "L-Lucy… is there a God?" she asked.

"H-Huh? I-I don't…" Lucy shook her head. "Wh-Why are you asking _me?"_

"B-Because you know all about the _spirits,_ and-and _magic,_ and stuff! So… so…" Lana looked at her. "Is there…?"

Lucy fell quiet, flummoxed. She knew she had always gone on about oblivion, and death, and talking to spirits and such, but did she _really_ believe all that, or was she just playing around? Every culture and religion had its own interpretation of the afterlife, but there was never any _evidence_ to support an afterlife - or a lack thereof. Well, there _was some evidence,_ but the jury was out on whether it was authentic or not. She had believed in spirits and a life beyond, but was that all it was – belief?

"I… I…" Lucy looked straight ahead, shaking her head. "…I _don't know,_ Lana. I'm sorry."

Lana sagged against the wall, deeply disappointed. "Oh…"

Lucy looked at her. "Um… w-why do you ask? I-If there's a God or not…"

Lana's eyes started to water again. "Be… _Because…"_ Her lips started quivering, and as the sobs popped up one by one, she shifted and wrapped her arms around Lucy's neck, burying her face in her shoulder. _"Because…!_ I used to think God was _good,_ and _nice,_ and he did all sorts of wonderful things for us! B-But then _this_ happened, and I started thinking, _'Why would God do this? Lincoln didn't deserve THIS!'_ And-And then I thought, maybe God didn't _do_ this – maybe he just let it happen! But then I thought, why would he let it happen, then? And-And-And then I thought maybe…" She threw her head back for one big sniffle, then laid her head back on Lucy's shoulder. "Maybe… he _wouldn't_ let this happen, and he _didn't_ do this, because God doesn't even _exist…"_

Lucy grimaced. "Lana…"

Lana looked up at Lucy, not caring how ugly she looked with her red eyes and her runny nose. "I-I'm _trying,_ Lucy! I'm _trying_ to be strong – I'm _trying_ to have faith! I keep _praying,_ and _praying,_ and _praying,_ but…" She crumpled against Lucy, thumping her fist against her chest. "But no matter how much I pray… it doesn't feel like anyone's _listening…"_

Lana sobbed helplessly, and Lucy, by now feeling _very_ uncomfortable, awkwardly reached her arms around her little sister and gave her a few unsure pats on the back. She uttered a weary sigh – it seemed consolation duty was being forced on her, whether she liked it or not. So, then, what to do? "U-Um… Lana…"

 _"Mm?"_ Lana said, her face still pressed into Lucy's black dress.

"Lana…" Lucy scratched her cheek, trying to think of something. "You… uh… Y-You _believed_ that God was real and good, right?"

Lana turned her head to look up at her and nodded. "M-Mm-hmm…"

"Well…" Lucy suppressed a sigh – once again, it wasn't much, but it was the best she could do. "Well… _there you go._ If you _believe_ it, then it _is,_ okay? Even if people tell you otherwise." She realized that she was on to something, and picked up momentum. "T-Take _me,_ for example. Everyone always told me that ghosts and spirits and demons and devils didn't exist, but I _believed_ they were, and I actually –"

Lucy's sentence came to an abrupt end. Lana looked up at her, confused. "Lucy?"

Lucy didn't even hear her. She was too busy staring wide-eyed across the room.

There, at the entrance to the hallway leading into the rest of the hospital… was Lincoln.

Lincoln looked… _lost._ He didn't seem to know what he was doing there or what was going on, either with himself or with everyone else. It seemed like he recognized them, but he didn't understand what they were doing.

But it was strange. Lincoln was dressed in his normal clothes – when did he have time to do that? And maybe it was just the lighting, or maybe a trick of the eyes, but he looked kind of… transparent?

But weirdest of all… he was standing on two legs.

Yes, she was sure of it – Lincoln had _both_ his legs. How was that possible? His left leg should be in the belly of a shark right now. How did –

For one brief, excruciating moment, Lucy's entire world came crashing to a halt.

There was only one way all of that was possible.

As time picked back up again, Lucy's brain scrambled frenetically as she began hyperventilating. No… No, it _couldn't_ be true! It _wasn't!_ It was just a trick of the eyes, that was all! Or-Or maybe a… a product of her guilty and exhausted mind! Yes, surely that was it! Lisa would concur, wouldn't she? After all, the idea of ghosts and spirits was… was… _ridiculous!_ Absolutely! Ghosts, spirits, tarot, black magic – it was all just _nonsense!_ She didn't _actually_ believe any of that stuff – she _never_ did! She was just trying to be _dark,_ and _gothic,_ and _creepy_ – that's all there was to it! It was never anything serious, it was just a little girl playing pretend! Was that so strange? _Was it?!_

Yet despite all of Lucy's attempts at rationalization, Lincoln's apparition didn't dissipate. He just kept standing there, watching everybody. She might have just been imagining it – or at least, she _hoped_ so – but it looked like Lincoln was waiting for someone…

…or some _thing._

Lucy started shaking. _This… This can't be happening…_ she told herself fruitlessly. _This… CAN'T be happening…!_

Now it was Lana's turn to console Lucy. "Lucy?" she said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Lucy slowly turned to face her. "Lana…"

Lana shrank, worried. "Lucy…?"

All of a sudden, Lucy grabbed Lana's hands. "L-Lana, _please…!"_ She gulped. "Please… pray with me!"

"W-What?"

"Pray with me – right now!"

With that, Lucy clasped her hands together, bowed her head, and started praying. Although surprised by her sudden request, Lana complied, pressing her hands together and muttering prayers for Lincoln.

Lucy focused all her mental energy on reaching out to Lincoln. She didn't have her crystal ball, or her special candles, or any other occult paraphernalia, but even if that stuff really _did_ work, she just needed, _needed,_ Lincoln to hear her right now, even if he wasn't really there, inside the waiting room and outside of his body.

 _Lincoln,_ she thought, _please… PLEASE go back… You can't…_ She gulped. _You CAN'T go… Not now… W-We need you… **I** need you… Don't…_ She started tearing up. _Don't give up… please…_

She looked back up, and she could still see Lincoln standing there, looking at everyone, and yet no-one in particular. It didn't look like he'd heard her. Now Lucy was starting to understand what Lana meant about her prayers going unheard…

Choking back sobs, she bowed her head again. _Oh, Lincoln, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, please… PLEASE don't go… Go back… Go back to your body… please…_ The tears started running down her cheeks. _I know it's hard, but… Do it for us, Lincoln… please… Do it for ME…_

She looked back up, hoping beyond hope that her message had gotten through. For a few moments, it seemed as though her calls had gone unanswered once again, as Lincoln kept standing there, watching. But just as Lucy was about to give up hope, Lincoln's eyes met hers for one fleeting moment before he suddenly turned and walked down the hallway.

That hallway led back into the hospital, towards the emergency rooms and the operating tables. Lucy felt ecstatic at first, but then noticed just how dark the hallway was as Lincoln disappeared into it. After he'd gone into it, the hallway suddenly brightened back up, the shadows dissipating. Lucy started to worry.

Had Lincoln gone back… or had he gone _away?_

Lucy uttered a heavy sigh. She just _didn't know._ It seemed the matter was in God's hands now… if there even was one.

Lana finished her prayer, then fell silent, keeping her eyes closed. Lucy reached out and touched her shoulder. "How do you feel?" she asked.

Lana opened her eyes, shaking her head. "Still doesn't feel like I did _anything…"_ she replied. Her lower lip quivered, and she wiped at her eyes. "I don't want to lose him, Lucy… I don't want to lose Lincoln…" She sniffled again. "But… But it feels like there's nothing I can do to stop it…"

"You _did_ do something," Lucy said. "You did the only thing you _could_ do – you had _faith."_ Having had a spiritual experience, herself gave her the confidence to tell Lana this. "Do you understand, Lana? When it feels like there's nothing you can do, all you _can_ do… is have faith." She forced a smile – an expression that felt unnatural to her. "A-And as long as you have faith that everything will be all right, then… then it's not impossible that everything _will_ be all right, okay?"

Lana smiled at Lucy. Then, to Lucy's surprise, she threw herself at her big sister, giving her a hug. _"…Thank you, Lucy,"_ she whispered in her ear.

Lucy awkwardly hugged her back. "Uh… you're welcome, Lana," she said. She looked over and saw the rest of her family, still suffering. "N-Now, uh… go on. It looks like _they_ could use some faith, too…"

Lana looked at the others, and a determined expression spread across her face. "…You're right." She broke the hug, stood up, thanked Lucy one last time, then went over to help out the others, leaving Lucy alone again.

Lucy watched her go, feeling an odd sensation well up in her chest. It felt like… pride? In herself? Usually, she felt it whenever she wrote a particularly good poem. So, it must have been pride. For once, she had tried consoling someone, and _succeeded –_ something she didn't think she could do. She supposed that was something to be proud of.

And yet, the voice inside her still stirred. _Practice what you preach, Lucy,_ it said. _You LIED to Lana. That's what you seem to be good at, isn't it? Lying to your family? You don't have "faith" that things will get better. Lincoln's dead – and you killed him. You BELIEVE it, and you KNOW it. That's Lucy Loud for you – always looking on the DARK side of life…_

 _"…Shut up,"_ Lucy said aloud. She didn't _really_ see Lincoln's ghost – it was just a figment of her imagination. Yes… that's all it was.

…

 _…Right?_

(…)

Another hour passed agonizingly slowly. The tension in the waiting room was palpable. The more time passed, the more the Louds feared the worst. Eventually, Lori and Mrs. Loud gave up keeping everyone's spirits up, and just sat and waited for news with dread and anticipation, along with everyone else.

Then… the moment arrived. A doctor came though the double doors separating the waiting room and the rest of the hospital and plodded into the room, holding a clipboard. His scrubs were bloody, and his body language told everyone how weary he was.

"…'Loud'?" he called out.

The Loud family sprang to their feet and hurried up to meet him together. "Yes! Yes, that's us!" Mr. Loud said.

The doctor beckoned. "…Follow me."

The Louds pushed and shoved past one another to follow the doctor back through the doors into a hallway lined with rooms that bustled with activity. Lucy wondered how many other people were being operated on, just like Lincoln… and what might happen to them.

The Louds followed the doctor down the hall, with Mr. and Mrs. Loud leading their children, and as they watched the doctor's sluggish movements, everyone feared the worst. As they packed into an elevator and rode it to the third floor, they grew more and more nervous. Finally, once they filed out of the elevator, the doctor stopped, as did the Louds.

"…There. Now we won't bother the other surgeons," the doctor said.

Nobody liked the sound of that. Mr. and Mrs. Loud shared a look, then held hands. "J-Just…" Mrs. Loud gulped. "Just… give it to us straight, Doctor… I-Is Lincoln…?"

The doctor let his gaze sweep over the entire Loud crowd. "Mr. and Mrs. Loud…" He sighed, and everyone held their breath. He was quiet for a few more seconds, and then he laid it on them:

"Your son… will live."

The response was deafening. Mr. and Mrs. Loud's eyes widened, and they cried out and kissed and hugged each other. Leni collapsed in Lori's arms, weeping with the most relieved smile on her face, and Lori hugged her and smiled as well. Luan burst out laughing, releasing everything she'd built up inside, and Luna couldn't help but join her. Lynn, holding Lily, gasped and gave her baby sister a hug that might have been bone-crushing if she hadn't exhausted herself. Lily, for her part, giggled and cheered. Lola and Lana cheered as well, hugging each other and jumping for joy, and even Lisa let her emotions run unchecked, running around in circles and squealing like the small child she was supposed to act like.

Lucy fell to her knees, a roiling storm of conflicting emotions. Of course, she was just as overjoyed as everyone else that Lincoln had survived. But now, she would have to face him, knowing she had almost gotten him killed.

The doctor smiled, pleased at himself for keeping the Louds in suspense so well. He allowed themselves to finish celebrating, then nodded and beckoned again. "I'll take you to him. This way."

The Louds eagerly followed the doctor through the twisting halls of the hospital. "How…" Mr. Loud said, "…T-Tell me, doctor, how did you do it? How did you save our son?"

The doctor chuckled. "Well, it wasn't easy, I can tell you that. Your son was in a bad shape when he arrived – he'd lost a lot of blood, and he was in shock. We even lost him more than once…"

"L-Lost…?" Lucy said. "You mean he _died?"_

"Well, as far as a heart stopping beating constitutes 'death', yes."

Lucy grimaced. Maybe she _did_ see what she thought she saw…

"But with a little luck and pluck, we were able to revive him each time." He flipped through his clipboard. "Our first priority was to flush the area of foreign debris, stop the hemorrhaging and treat the shock. The flushing we did easily enough, and the shock we treated with a blood IV, but the hemorrhaging was a bit trickier. Now, the tissue surrounding the lower extremity of the femur was far too damaged to enclose it around the bone, and since the bone needs tissue to cushion it against external wear and tear, we decided to excise the damaged tissue, shorten the major blood vessels, and amputate the femur above the medial and lateral condyles."

"Amputate…?" Mr. Loud stopped to lean against the wall, woozy. Mrs. Loud supported him.

"After that, we ligated the major blood vessels and stopped the hemorrhaging, disinfected the area, attached the muscle to the remnant bone, and used a skin graft from Lincoln's lower back to close the area." The doctor turned to face the family. "It'll take a little time, but your son should make a full recovery – well, as full as can be, under the circumstances…"

Mr. Loud overtook the doctor and shook his hand. "Oh, _thank you!_ Thank you so much, Doctor, uh…" He looked at the doctor's ID tag. "…Doctor Chapman!"

Dr. Chapman grinned at Mr. Loud. "Don't mention it, Mr. Loud – it's all part of the job."

Taking note of the doctor's demeanor, Lisa said, "…You're quite proud of yourself, aren't you?"

Dr. Chapman stopped, and the rest of the Louds stopped with him. He turned and looked down at Lisa. "Excuse me?"

"Do not mistake me, Doctor – I am immensely grateful for your decisive action in saving my brother's life." Lisa gestured up and down at Dr. Chapman. "I merely observe that you seem rather _proud_ of your accomplishment, is all."

 _"Lisa!"_ Mrs. Loud said sharply. "Don't be rude! Dr. Chapman –"

Dr. Chapman held up one hand. "No, no, Mrs. Loud, _please…_ let me speak for myself." He pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing his eyes, and uttered yet another weary sigh before kneeling to meet Lisa at eye level.

"Young lady," he said, "nobody's perfect. No matter what it is we do in life – sports, tests, emergency medical care – we don't always succeed. Even if we practice or study really hard for it; even if we do our best…" He shrugged. "…sometimes, our best just isn't good enough. Sometimes, we make _mistakes_ – little, careless mistakes that we think we know better than to make. But whatever the reason… we don't always succeed in what we set out to do." He looked Lisa straight in the eyes. "And in _my_ line of work, that means the person whose life it is your job to save – whose life you've been _entrusted_ with saving… dies."

Dr. Chapman waved dismissively. "And like I said, _nobody's perfect._ Every emergency surgeon has had at least one of their patients die. And I don't have to explain how hard it hits the patients' loved ones – you know well enough. But _us?_ The surgeons? We had a job to do, and we _failed._ We had to _save someone's life_ – and we _failed._ And afterwards, you might tell yourself, _'there was nothing that could have been done.'_ And maybe there wasn't. But it's our job to treat it as though there is always _something_ that could have been done – and we _didn't do it."_ He frowned. "How do you think that makes _us_ feel?"

Lisa didn't answer. She might have been silenced already, but Dr. Chapman continued out of personal necessity. "All of us, even the most skilled ones, we've _all_ lost patients – some more than others." He shook his head, shrugging again. "And you know, being around so much death, you start to get desensitized to it, I guess. That's probably why you thought I didn't care, isn't it?"

Again, Lisa didn't say a word.

"But let me tell you, just because you get desensitized to it, doesn't mean you stop feeling it when it happens – at least, _I_ still feel it. It doesn't mean you stop trying your best to avert it – at least, if you want to keep your job. Some of us are in the business of saving lives just for a paycheck, but not _all_ of us, oh no." He looked down at the floor. "…I've had a few boys just like your brother die on the operating table, under the knife. _My_ knife."

He was quiet for a long time after that, and so was everyone else. Then, Dr. Chapman stood up. "…So, to answer your question, little miss, _yes._ Yes, I _am_ proud of myself for what I did. But when you've lost so many lives in spite of all your hard work, well…" He shrugged. "…it's kind of hard _not_ to be proud when your hard work ends up _saving_ one."

Lynn chuckled mirthlessly. "Like heck it is…"

Dr. Chapman turned to Lynn. "Hm?"

Lynn folded her arms, frowning. "It's easy for _you_ to say… when _you're_ not the one who made it so the person's life needed saving in the first place…"

Dr. Chapman stood up. "Hmm…" He walked over to Lynn, leaving him in the center of the group. "You say that this was caused by a _shark attack?"_

"That's right!" Leni said.

Dr. Chapman shook his head. "Well, that's just not _possible,_ is it? I mean, there are no sharks in Lake Michigan…"

"It's _true!"_ Lori turned to Lucy. "Lucy, do you still have the tooth? Show him the tooth."

Lucy didn't know what Lori was talking about at first, but then remembered the shark tooth, which she had put in her pocket. She fished it out and showed it to the doctor. "I… I found this in Lincoln's leg," she said. "It's a _shark tooth."_

Dr. Chapman inspected the tooth. "Hmm…" After a while, he shrugged. "…Well, I'm not stubborn or delusional enough to deny evidence right in front of my face. If you say it was a shark attack, I believe you. Though, it's still highly improbable…"

"Not _too_ improbable," Lisa chimed in. "When you think about it, the responsible shark could only have been a _Carcharhinus leucas –_ street name, bull shark. It's one of the three species of sharks most responsible for attacks on humans – the other two being the tiger shark and the great white shark – but most importantly, it is the only one of the three that can survive in a freshwater habitat, such as Lake Michigan." She shrugged. "However, that still begs the question of what the shark was doing there, as Lake Michigan is outside of the bull shark's normal range. And even if a bull shark _did,_ perhaps, get lost and travel farther north than its range, it would still have had to get past Niagara Falls to get into Lake Michigan, which is impossible…"

"Hm." Dr. Chapman shrugged. "Well, I suppose that's a question for another time…" He turned back to Lynn. "So, why don't you tell me _exactly_ what happened, if you don't mind?"

Although the memory was still fresh and painful for Lynn, she related the circumstances of the attack to Dr. Chapman (although he had her skip over the part about jockeying for Lincoln's vote and straight to the attack itself). By the time she finished, she was on the verge of tears.

Dr. Chapman digested everything Lynn had told him with a thoughtful look on his face. _"…Hm."_

"…It's all my fault," Lynn said. "Lincoln only went out there, into the water, because of me. He almost _died…_ because of _me."_ She rubbed the tears away with the heel of her palm. "I'm such a bonehead…"

The other sisters looked at each other and began to glare at Lynn, sharing her sentiments. Lucy saw them start to turn against her roommate, but, to her shame, she still couldn't gather the courage to confess her culpability in the accident.

Dr. Chapman bent down to meet Lynn at eye level and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well, I don't know where you got _that_ idea, young lady," he said. "By all accounts, you didn't nearly _end_ your brother's life – you _saved_ your brother's life."

Lynn blinked, dumbfounded. "H- _Huh?_ B-But I –"

"Now, don't go blaming yourself, young lady. Let's face it – you had _no way_ of knowing that a shark would be at that that beach that day, let alone that it would attack your brother like that. Why would you? We've already established how unlikely it was…"

 _YOU had some way of knowing, though, didn't you, Lucy?_ the voice in Lucy's head said. Lucy tried her best to ignore it. Her shark-summoning magic ritual didn't work – Lori had interrupted it before it could finish.

…And besides, _magic wasn't real._ Of course it wasn't – she knew that. She _did_ know that…

"And if you hadn't been there, Lincoln would have drowned long before anyone noticed the blood or the shark and fished him out of the water. Although, it sounds like your CPR skills need work – might I recommend classes?"

Lynn rubbed the back of her head, remembering her frantic efforts at resuscitation that succeeded only by a lucky fluke. "Uh, _heh, heh,_ yeah…"

"Regardless, if it hadn't been for you, Lincoln would never had made it to the beach, let alone _here."_ He swept his arms out from side to side. "I believe you all owe your sister here a _'thank-you'_ for saving your brother."

Humbled, the other Loud sisters surrounded Lynn and gave her hugs, pats on the back, and most of all, _'thank-yous'._ In an uncharacteristic display of humility, Lynn smiled sheepishly and said, _"Heh, heh…_ Yeah, well… I-It wasn't _all_ me, you know… Bobby was the one who got me and Lincoln to shore, and gave Lincoln first aid…"

Lori gasped. "That's right! I've got to give him the big news!" She whipped out her cellphone. "Oh, Boo-Boo Bear… My _hero…!"_

 _"Our_ hero!" Lola wrapped her arms around Lynn's waist. "Lynn and Bobby – they're our heroes!"

The Louds gave a hearty cheer, and started another round of praise for Lynn. Lucy gave Lynn an especially strong hug, and whispered _"Thank you, Lynn…"_ directly into her ear.

Lynn's response was frigid. Her smile faded, she refused to look Lucy in the eyes (or wouldn't, if she could have), and just said, _"…Uh-huh."_

Lucy took a step back, wondering what that was about, until she recalled what Lori had said to her earlier. Now that they knew Lincoln was going to be all right, the others were starting to remember who had actually _wanted_ a shark attack.

All of a sudden, the future didn't bode well for her…

Once the celebrations had concluded once again, Dr. Chapman continued to lead them down the hall until he stopped in front of a door. "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Loud, your son is in this room, here." Before the Louds could rush in, he stepped in front of the door. _"Ah, ah, ah!_ Before you go in there, I'd like to remind you that Lincoln lost a lot of blood, and he needs his rest right now. So please, try not to disturb him?"

The Loud sisters nodded, remembering how bad of a shape Lincoln had been in the last time they saw him. Mr. Loud opened the door quietly, and the Louds filed into the room and saw him.

Lincoln was sleeping in the hospital bed – well, more like _unconscious._ Tubes ran in and out of his nose, and a saline drip ran into his arm through an IV. Many of the sisters wanted to rush up and throw themselves at him, but Mr. and Mrs. Loud restrained them, signaling that they needed to be quiet.

In silence, the Louds surrounded their only son and brother, looking at him in his pitiful state. Lucy had not been quick enough to be directly by his side, but she was close enough to be right next to his hand and leg. She noticed the unevenness of the blanket, and everyone watched as she reached a shaking hand out and touched the bed, pressing down into the mattress where Lincoln's left leg should have been.

The Louds then remembered just what had been taken in the attack. Lincoln might be alive, but now he was crippled for life. For a while, no-one dared say anything. Then, Leni broke the silence with a simple:

 _"Lincoln…"_

That single word was poignant enough to push the Loud family over the edge. One by one, the sisters started weeping for their poor, disabled brother, and their parents soon joined them. Lincoln stirred, but did not wake. Lucy wept the bitterest tears of them all. She knew what she'd done. And there was no _un_ doing it.

Lincoln would have to live without a leg for the rest of his life.

Lucy took his hand, gently squeezing it. She had to say something, _anything._ "Lincoln…" She searched and searched for the right words to say; the words that would make everything right between them; the words that would absolve her.

But in the end, two words were the best she could come up with:

 _"I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…"_


End file.
